Nigeria is finished with Goodluck Jonathan

Jonathan made the comment on Friday, April 8, 2016, while receiving the 2016 Vanguard Personality of the Year.

The former president, who was represented by ex-Minister of State for Works, Dayo Adeyeye, also said that he would continue with his good works in the country.

“He says I should tell everybody that he is not yet finished with his good works in Nigeria, he has left office but he is not tired…” Adeyeye said.

Jonathan’s statement is both confusing and amusing because it’s not clear which “good works” he’s referring to.

The former president definitely deserves praise for conceding defeat to successor, Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, but this alone cannot be said to amount to good works especially considering the amount of destruction the Jonathan administration unleashed in Nigeria.

Jonathan and his officials repeatedly embarrassed Nigeria and made the country a laughing stock before the world.

The over 200 Chibok girls were abducted during the Jonathan administration, but the president’s first reaction was denial and then later false reports of a rescue were released.

Jonathan and his cohorts also shamelessly attempted to ride to re-election on the hashtag created to bring awareness to the girls’ abduction.

The most prominent legacy of the Jonathan administration was wanton corruption and looting of public funds.

According to Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, corruption under Jonathan’s administration was carried out with no attempt or intention to cover it up.

“The corrupt try to take money under the table. Under Jonathan’s government, it is done so openly, with records,” El-Rufai told the New York Times in 2015.

“People actually document the diversion of funds. You just wonder, what is wrong with them,” he added.

Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi also told American news channel, PBS News hour that Nigeria was losing about 1 billion dollars a month to corruption during Jonathan’s tenure.

“In Nigeria, there is no accountability at all and that is why I think Nigeria’s corruption is worse than corruption in most parts of the world. It is the worst type of corruption, it’s stealing,” Sanusi said.

“Frankly, I think a billion dollars under Jonathan a month was about what we were losing,” he added.

Jonathan suspended Sanusi in February 2014 after the latter alleged that billions of dollars in oil revenue had gone missing.

Also, former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki is currently being tried for supervising the laundering of $2 billion dollars in public funds. Most of the money was allegedly spent on attempts to secure a second term for Jonathan.

In light of all this, and even more, Jonathan cannot claim to have done any good works for Nigeria.

Jonathan’s concession was the right thing to do, and one should not expect too much praise for doing the right thing, but since this right thing is rare in Africa, we praise Jonathan and will continue to praise him for doing it.

However, this does not mean that the former president can sweep all the wrong which went on under his watch under the rug like it never happened.

The Jonathan administration brought Nigeria to its knees and almost finished the country, this is what we remember and always will.

Dear Jonathan, you might not be finished with Nigeria, but we are definitely finished with you.