President Goodluck Jonathan, PhD, never had any political experience in democracy and governance before he joined politics in 1998 and became the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State alongside his boss retired Squadron Leader Diepreye Alamieyeseigha who was sworn in as the governor of the state on the platform of People's Democratic Party (PDP) on May 29, 1999.
Mr. Jonathan was Deputy Governor until December 2005 when be was sworn in as Governor on December 9, 2005 after the impeachment of Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha by the Bayelsa State Assembly. Alamieyeseigha was found guilty of money laundering in the United Kingdom. The following year 2006, Dame Patience Jonathan was implicated in crimes related to money laundering and investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Mr. Jonathan was Governor of Bayelsa State from 2005 to 2007 and suddenly became Vice-President of Nigeria from 2007 to 2010 when on February 9, 2010, the Nigerian Senate authorized him to act as President of Nigeria, because President Yar'Adua went for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia. Without waiting for the return of his boss, on his very first day as acting President, Mr. Jonathan announced a minor cabinet reshuffle. And following the death of President Umaru Yar'Adua on May 5, 2010, Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 6, 2010, becoming Nigeria's 14th Head of State.
From the time that he joined the PDP in 1998 and suddenly becoming Deputy Governor of Bayelsa state on May 29, 1999 to becoming Governor,, Vice President and finally President of Nigeria, you can see that he was only a victim of unforeseen circumstances of both natural and unnatural political intrigues of the PDP and he was not prepared for the political leadership of Nigeria and has clearly shown that he has been overwhelmed by the challenges and trials of being the President and Commander-in-Chief of the most populous country in Africa at the most critical period of the history of Nigeria since the Nigerian civil war. Therefore, instead of facing and tackling the critical challenges of a Commander-in-Chief in a time of war against the Islamic terrorist group of the Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'Awati Wal-Jihad ("People Committed to the Prophet's Teachings for Propagation and Jihad"), popularly known as "Boko Haram", he has been more occupied by the opportunities and spinoffs of his office by spending more money on awarding questionable government contracts to many beneficiaries who are mostly his sycophants, gangsters and terrorists from his native Niger Delta and the capitalist mafia of the ruling class of oil barons and their cartel controlling both the legal and illegal export and import of crude oil, import of cement, rice, sugar, vehicles and other goods running into billions of dollars.
Many of the so called achievements his ministers and public relations agents have been bragging about and publishing in the news media are simply things that a state governor can do without much fanfare as demonstrated by Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State and Governor Godswill Obot Akpabio of Akwa Ibom. The achievements that President Goodluck Jonathan could not even achieve a fraction as Governor of Bayelsa State.
Imagine President Barack Obama or even Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, President of South Africa boasting about refurbishing the trains and renovating airports or commissioning Nigerian vehicle assembly plants with imported tyres and engines and some thousands of bags of locally produced rice that cannot even be enough to feed a local government.
It is embarrassing for a Commander-in-Chief of the biggest democracy in Africa to be bragging of such normal duties of any state government in Africa that you will not even hear or see a mayor bragging about them in the US.
What made Nigeria the largest economy in Africa are the socioeconomic achievements of Lagos state and not from the largely underdeveloped states in the country. Most of the foreign investors end up in Lagos, because they cannot invest in the restive Niger Delta and the insecure northern states terrorized by the rampaging Boko Haram.
The President has even failed to rescue the remaining missing Chibok school girls since April 14, 2014, when those who escaped have given the Nigerian Armed Forces enough information on their locations in the areas controlled by the Boko Haram. It is really an embarrassment for a President to see the Boko Haram guerrillas openly attacking and slaughtering defenceless and helpless citizens in their villages and towns and having enough time for celebrations and making speeches without any strike from the Nigerian Air Force and he is boasting of buying more frigates for the Nigerian Navy when the Nigerian Army is lamenting that the soldiers don't have enough modern arsenal to confront and defeat the ruthless insurgents.
The President has shown that he would have been better left as a state governor to learn more about political leadership and governance and gain more experience before even attempting to contest for presidential election to become the President of Nigeria.
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