2027: As Jonathan Becomes More Clueless -By SKC Ogbonnia

“If we had proper elections, a leader who fails to perform would be voted out.” (Goodluck Jonathan, September 20, 2025).

There has been mounting pressure on the former president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) to contest the Nigerian presidential election of 2027. Of course, GEJ has every right to seek political office, if he so desires. But the problem here lies in common sense. The mere fact that he has not come out openly to shut down such speculation shows that he has only grown more clueless than as at the time he made the infamous history in 2015 for being the first incumbent president to lose a re-election in the country.

Before further, what could be the motivating factors for Jonathan to ever entertain the thought of coming back to power? Could he be thinking that he performed admirably but was still rigged out in an election held under his watchful eyes? Could this be a case of misleading popularity, his sheer luck being stretched too far or plain cluelessness? What is it about Mr. Goodluck that we do not already know?

Lest we forget, as at the time he was swept out of office, which was of course before the democratic regimes of Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Tinubu; Jonathan was widely seen, and rightly so, as the worst Nigerian president in history. This label was very fitting then because of his abysmal record in office.

Despite presiding in an era of unprecedented oil boom, Jonathan sat idly by while the major problems bedeviling Nigeria today deepened to inexcusable proportions. Recall his cluelessness towards institutionalized corruption, Boko Haram, kidnapping and banditry, epileptic power supply, fraudulent fuel subsidy, decaying infrastructure, jumbo salaries for politicians, mass unemployment, overnight billionaires without sweat, and hopelessness, to name a few! Any deep dig into any of these areas only goes to exhume mess with miasma to boot.

Now, what is that sterling legacy that can inspire another term for Goodluck Ebele Jonathan?

Before putting this piece together, I had called some of Jonathan’s allies for his lasting legacies in any part of the country, if any. I also challenged Artificial Intelligence (AI), begging for such legacies. But neither could point to anything significant, besides that GEJ was a gentleman by conceding defeat in 2015.

Yes, one can also argue that Jonathan has remained popular after leaving office. But it is the height of cluelessness for him not to recognize that his fleeting popularity is not only dubious but also ominous. This stems from the fact that, despite deepening the Nigerian problems as president, his successors in Buhari and Tinubu have gone on to perform much worse.

So, is Jonathan being lured back to power to further worsen the Nigerian problems once again and quietly surrender back to Otuoke after four years? While conceding defeat is a valuable democratic ingredient, how does it put food on the table at this Nigeria’s dying time?

Obviously hollow in any manner of populist legacy, those urging Jonathan to run are not even basing the candidacy on any progressive agenda for the future. Instead, they are clinging to the constitutional fact that he can only serve one term, if elected again in 2027. Their assumption, as well as the main goal, is that Jonathan would automatically hand over to the North in 2031 just to sustain the unwritten power rotation arrangement between the North and the South.

Clearly, these proponents of Jonathan candidacy, most of whom are prime beneficiaries of the endless misrule of Nigeria, are as shameless as Jonathan is clueless or even worse.

But we have bad news for them: The groundbreaking gains of the presidential election of 2023 is a partial testimony that Nigerian masses are no fools nor clueless. This goes without saying that the election of 2027 is a date with history. It is a mass revolution to produce leaders with character, competence and capacity who can rescue the country. And certain to be put to shame are those whose only hope of winning elections hinges on the typical emotional dictates of tribes, regions, zones, religions, and looted money.

SKC Ogbonnia, former APC Presidential Aspirant, writes from Houston, Texas.