By EMAMEH GABRIEL
If you follow Nigerian politics for a while, you will eventually hear a certain type of rumour. It often begins behind the scenes, as a quiet murmur that turns into a familiar, recycled headlines: Is Goodluck Jonathan making a comeback? This has become a regular event in every election cycle, as predictable as the seasonal Harmattan dust. For anyone who is truly worried about the country’s serious problems, it is an annoying distraction from the real and urgent work that needs doing.
A handful of desperate politicians have, as usual started promoting the idea of a presidential bid for former president Goodluck Jonathan. This predictable ritual has become a regular feature of the pre election cycle since 2015.
For a former President and a man who now fashions himself as a global statesman and peace envoy, this recurring drama does him no favours. The fact that he allows these rumours to persist, season after season, without a firm and final public rejection, speaks volumes. A true statesman, having clearly stated his retirement from active politics, would shut such speculation down immediately to avoid unnecessary distraction. His continued silence can only be interpreted as either a tacit enjoyment of the attention or a dangerous openness to being used as a pawn. For a man of his stature, neither is a good look.
But let us be clear: for President Bola Tinubu, the idea of a Jonathan candidacy should be the least of his worries. To suggest that Jonathan poses a significant threat as they want Nigerians to believe, is to profoundly misunderstand Tinubuโs political identity.
To understand President Tinubu, it is important to consider his history. He is a highly skilled political strategist who has a consistent record of success in elections and major political contests. His career path shows a talent for long term planning and organisation. His victory in the 2023 presidential election is a clear example of his ability to succeed against seemingly overwhelming challenges.
Remember the situation in the weeks before the election. He was not only competing against rival parties but also confronting a serious plot within his own party, the APC. Influential figures were actively working to prevent him from winning the nomination.
Once he did secure the ticket, the real struggle started. The government in power at the time introduced a punishing policy to redesign the naira and restrict cash circulation. This was widely understood as a deliberate, politically motivated act intended to cripple his campaign.
Elections all over the world are famously dependent on a large network of grassroots supporters, which required cash to operate effectively. The cash policy was an unprecedented form of internal sabotage designed to break this system and undermine his efforts. Despite this, he ultimately prevailed.
Yet, Tinubu won. He navigated through the conspiracy, the landmines, and the outright hostility to emerge victorious. This demonstrated a level of political grit, strategic depth, and resilience that few in Nigeriaโs history can claim. The man they call Jagaban did not get to where he is by being easily rattled, least of all by a recycled rumour.
Today, President Tinubuโs desk is not covered with files on Goodluck Jonathanโs phantom campaign. It is buried under the immense weight of national crises. His real concerns are the issues that keep ordinary Nigerians awake at night: a struggling economy that is now recovering due to his reforms, inflation that is finally falling, volatile food prices that are being actively addressed, and widespread insecurity that is being tackled by the president’s security architecture, led by the former anti-graft crusader, Nuhu Ribadu.
These are the battles that demand his full attention. His focus, one must assume, is on saving an economy that requires every ounce of his energy and expertise. The man is playing a high stakes game of macroeconomic surgery, and the patient is the entire nation. To think he is glancing over his shoulder at a former president who has not shown any serious political muscle in nearly a decade is to miss the point entirely.
The people wooing Jonathan are doing him a great disservice. They are not honouring him; they are setting him up for embarrassment. They are a faction of northern political elites dissatisfied with the current power structure and desperately searching for a southern face to front their project. They see Jonathan as a pliable toolโa one-term president who could, in their calculation, disrupt Tinubuโs southern base and then make way for their own candidate in 2031.
Jonathan is not a political force; he is a political memory. His presidency is not remembered for transformative glory but for its breathtaking weakness and the escalation of the very security and corruption crises we still battle today. Allowing himself to be weaponised by a disgruntled politicians would utterly destroy the benign, post presidential legacy he has carefully built as a democracy advocate. He would transition from a respected former leader to a mere pawn in a cynical game, and his global stature would diminish overnight.
For President Tinubu, the path is clear. His opponents are not named Jonathan. His real opponents are the economic indices, the hungry citizens, and the security challenges that threaten national stability. These are the foes worthy of his steel. His legacy will be defined by whether he can tame these monsters, not by whether he defeats a former president who seems unsure if he is still a player or a peace envoy.
Nigerians elected Tinubu to do a jobโa brutally difficult one. The last thing they need is a government distracted by political gossip from a bygone era. The 2027 election will be fought on Tinubuโs record of performance, not on the ghost of administrations past.
President Tinubuโs worries are, and should be, the Nigerian people he swore to serve. Jonathan, should he be foolish enough to answer the call of his dubious promoters, would merely be a minor distraction on the path of a man who has made a career out of defeating far more formidable forces. Ask Atiku, ask Obi and even the coalition saboteurs who recently left the APC, they will tell you what it’s like going into political confrontation with Tinubu.
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