GEJ is not for sale: Stop the desperation, by Kayode Adebiyi

Desperation is naturally an anathema to rational thinking—especially political desperation of the kind that some wannabe political neophytes are nursing in their quest to railroad former President Goodluck Jonathan into the 2027 presidential race.

As usual, I made a comment under the post of one of such desperate folks who are frantically appealing to Jonathan to run in 2027, all in their quest to stop the re-election of the incumbent president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

That’s why you see a lot of this “presidential candidate peddling club” going up and down like a yo-yo. Today, they are Obidient; tomorrow, Obi is no longer good enough—it’s Atiku, because Atiku will “lock down” the northern vote to defeat President Tinubu.

Suddenly, Atiku can’t do it anymore, and now they’ve gone to beg Jonathan to come out of retirement because they need a southerner, not a northerner.

Therefore, they are all over the place, monitoring every move, visit, trip, and meeting of Jonathan with any notable Nigerian politician, and then conjecturing that Jonathan is meeting these leaders in preparation for his declaration to run in 2027.

The new story now is that Atiku is no longer desperate to run and is likely to lend his political support to Jonathan in his forthcoming meetings with him and other stakeholders.

Desperation narrows perception, making people see fewer options than truly exist. The fear of losing hijacks rational thinking, so choices become reactive rather than proactive. Honestly, I pity them, because there are things they don’t understand and can’t grasp—because rational thinking has taken flight from them.

This was the same Atiku Jonathan not only appealed to and begged, but also travelled to London to meet in his hotel room, pleading with him to support his re-election in the 2015 general election. Atiku blatantly refused and told GEJ, matter-of-factly, that he should step down because it was the North’s turn—Jonathan was only president because of Yar’Adua’s death. That was what he told a sitting president.

Not only that, it was Atiku who led five governors out of the PDP National Convention ahead of the 2015 election. He later joined the APC and helped to oust Jonathan from office. Now, this is the same man they claim wants to help Jonathan back into power—against another southerner, Bola Tinubu.

They think Jonathan is a desperate man like them, and would allow himself to be railroaded into a bottomless pit. But if there’s one thing Jonathan is known for, it’s that GEJ is not a desperate politician.

While I know politics is a funny game, and one can’t totally vouch for the character of many politicians, one thing I do know is that the antecedents of a few politicians in Nigeria—when under pressure—show that they will never get carried away or take desperate, self-serving decisions. One politician in contemporary Nigeria who has consistently demonstrated that character is Goodluck Jonathan.

Left to the hawks around Jonathan, he would not have handed over or made that call to Buhari while the votes were still being tallied. In Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s book, she wrote that after GEJ listened to everyone’s opinions—most of whom advised him never to concede and to fight to the finish—Jonathan stood up and excused himself, as if going to the toilet. He went into an adjacent room, made that important call, conceded to Buhari, and congratulated him on winning the election.

He then returned to where his aides and appointees were seated, sat down, and acted like nothing had happened. It was there that they heard on the news that Buhari had said President Jonathan had just called to concede and congratulate him. They were all dumbfounded and saddened, and began leaving the room one by one.

That is the same man some people now think, after 12 years of becoming a global statesman, would allow himself to be cajoled and desperately start looking for what’s not lost inside Aso Villa. It is not in Jonathan’s character to be desperate. Never!

When individuals or groups—particularly in the political climate we are in—are driven by desperation, they tend to abandon reasoned decision-making in favour of reactive, emotional, or even destructive choices. They think they can write emotional op-eds, stage town hall meetings in the name of “Nigerians earnestly yearning for Jonathan,” and use these tactics to persuade him to run.

Desperation often clouds judgment, leading people to make impulsive, short-sighted, or self-destructive mistakes. It creates a strong urge for immediate relief, so the brain prioritizes short-term survival. It compromises values and integrity—which is exactly what they desperately want to ask GEJ to jettison for filthy lucre.

Desperation, particularly in politics, is corrosive to rational thinking because it prioritizes survival, or control over deliberation, compromise, and truth. The emotional urgency of desperation narrows the range of acceptable options and empowers rhetoric over reason.

For these folks, they’ve allowed the fear of BAT to override the very rational faculties democracy depends on. Yes, they are afraid—hence they are shopping around, and Jonathan is their next “market.” But this man, Ebele, is known never to buy such a market.