Senate President Bukola Saraki said yesterday that former President Goodluck Jonathan was not prepared for leadership.
He, however, described him as a man who never wanted to unnecessarily cling on to power.
Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima lampooned the ex-President for his inaction when the Chibok schoolgirls were abducted. He said the former President almost removed him from office as a result of the girls’ abduction but for the intervention of a former Attorney-General of the Federation Mohammed Bello (SAN) and a former Minister of Special Duties Tanimu Turaki.
They spoke in Abuja at the public presentation of the book: “On a Platter of Gold: How Jonathan won and lost Nigeria,” written by a former Minister of Sports, Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi. The book reviews the Jonathan administration from February 9, 2010 to May 29, 2015.
Saraki said: “I like to share one or two things that will probably summarise the former President Jonathan. I remember when I was then senator and I came across this issue of fuel subsidy and the way the country was losing close to about N1.3 trillion.
“In the history of this country, I don’t think of any singular kind of level of corruption as huge as that. I had a motion already, I wanted to present on the floor of the Senate. I felt as a member of the ruling party at that time, it was only proper I discussed it with the President (first) maybe some action can be taken so that I could step down the motion. I booked an appointment to see Mr. President, I went with my paper, I started with the background of how people brought in petroleum products. I said Mr. President, in the past, people used to get award letters from NNPC to bring in PMS, DPK, and make 10, 20 per cent profit.
“I said sir, they’ve taken it to another level. Now, they get an order to bring in products they don’t want to make 10 or 20 per cent any more. They will get an offer to bring in a cargo of 20,000 litres, they will bring in 5,000 litres to be stamped for 20,000 litres and instead of making 10 per cent, they make ten times the amount. I was telling the President thinking the President would get very agitated. But Jonathan said: ‘Senator Saraki, you know this oil business is very oily.’
“I was stunned and taken aback but in a way, that was Jonathan in a way; that was who he is. And if you look at the second encounter … I felt that I didn’t want Jonathan to hear it as news, I booked an appointment to go and see him – I didn’t know what I was thinking that day. I went to the Villa. He said ‘come in, come in, how can I help you?’ I looked at the President of a third world country and said Mr. President I came to tell you that I am going to be contesting for your seat. Jonathan looked at me and said ‘oh, okay, good luck, good luck.’
“If it were any other person, maybe I would not have left the Villa but that again sums up Goodluck Jonathan. I think it is Nigerians that produce the kind of leaders we get. No matter what you say about him, I don’t think he was someone who was desperate for power. He was not someone that was prepared for leadership. Yes by misfortune or fortune, I keep on saying, we all know the right things but we don’t do it. We find ourselves sometimes blaming individuals and blaming others than ourselves.”
Some of those at the launch were Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed(Kwara); a former Speaker of the House of Representatives Ghali Na’aba; a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Alfa Belgore; National Chairman of APC Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; Minister of Mines and Steel Development Dr. Kayode Fayemi; Minister of Communication Mr. Adebayo Shittu; ex-Governor Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo; Executive Secretary of NEITI Mr. Waziri Adio; ex-Minister of FCT Dr. Aliyu Modibbo; Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly Ali Ahmed; members of the APC National Working Committee and a former National Chairman of PDP Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje.
Shettima described Dr. Jonathan as a clueless leader and unsophisticated country person. He also reiterated that Jonathan doubted the abduction of over 200 Chibok girls and was nonchalant. He said Jonathan surrounded himself with an assorted crop of religious bigots and tribal kings unlike ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo who believes in the Nigerian project.
Notwithstanding, he said Jonathan should be commended for conceding defeat and saving the nation from the precipice. He, however, said Nigeria needs good governance and not restructuring.
“It goes without saying that the stewardship of Dr. Jonathan was such a turbulent period in our national life and will continue to shape for good or for bad, the fortunes of our country.
“The lesson for us, therefore, as a political class is that we must at all time, place the national interest above all other considerations and must assiduously work to build a national consensus. Not everyone will agree with the recollections of the events of that very interesting period of our national life or the manner of presentation.
“I hope that this book will inspire others to give their own account, history and perspectives as well as opinion of this and other period of our unfolding political history. The fortune of this country is our hands.
”Shettima, who was the chairman of the launch, regaled a stunned audience with how Jonathan mismanaged the abduction of Chibok girls by Boko Haram. Instead of acting, Jonathan ordered that the Principal of the Government Secondary School, Chibok should be locked up by the then Inspector-General of Police Mr. Mohammed Yusuf.
He added: “Sadly, Borno was the epicentre of the whole crisis that engulfed the Jonathan administration. “I wasn’t invited to Abuja until nearly three weeks later and even when I was invited, I was happy that at last, I was getting the attention of my leader. I was asked to come to Abuja with the Commissioner of Police, the DPO in Chibok, the Commissioner of Education, the military commander in Chibok and the Director of SSS in Borno.
“We were all ushered in to the Villa and sadly when the President came in, he was still in the world of make-believe. He started threatening the principal that he should tell him where the girls were. He was shouting, ‘Principal, you must tell me where those girls are, Commissioner of Police, you must know where the girls are’.
“He immediately ordered the arrest of the Principal, the DPO, the Commissioner of Police and the Director of SSS, that they must produce the girls. In this very unfortunate saga, Mohammed Dikko Abubakar, the Inspector-General of Police, arrested them, took them to the police headquarters and told them he cannot hold onto them because he was a man of conscience. He let them go on self-recognition.
“I was quite taken aback because I thought the solution was going to be found to a very grave national challenge. Instead, the President was still of the mindset that those girls were not abducted.”
