Dele Farotimi, a frontline lawyer has said that some politicians are trying hard to rebrand former President, Goodluck Jonathan, who was voted out of office by Nigerians in 2015 for valid reasons.
He questioned the rationale behind the move, insisting that those expecting the former Bayelsa State Governor to come and do a miracle would be disappointed.
He pointed out that there were good reasons Nigerians decided to vote Jonathan out in 2015 which they believed was the solution to the country’s problems, but ended up in a worse situation.
The senior lawyer believes that it would only amount to waste of time to replace President Bola Tinubu with Jonathan, insisting that this won’t solve Nigeria’s problems.
There have been rumours about Jonathan entering the race for the presidency in 2027 with some people believing that he may be the person to wrest power from the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Rotimi wondered why Nigerians were even considering going back to the Bayelsa-born politician who, according to him, they vilified, labeled and voted out in 2015.
“This was the same Goodluck Ebele Jonathan who was vilified and labeled.
“The press went into overdrive in this country, the pulpits and the mosques said Jonathan’s removal will solve the problems of Nigeria, but here we are – we’re going back into the past to dig up the past. That was how we dug up the one that just expired,” he said in an interview published by Channel Television.
The lawyer said that the challenges facing the country were far beyond a mere change of personnel and could only be solved when the people decided to see the problems for what they were.
He said that even if President Tinubu was removed from office today and the evil system remains in place, nothing was going to change, insisting that what was important was changing the system and not the personnel.
“We’re not looking for saviours; it’s about building systems, building a country,” he said, adding “how do you rebrand the failure of 2015 into a saint and a saviour in 2025?
“They want to bring Goodluck Jonathan because it is the safe option for them.
“There were valid reasons 10 years ago to have him removed, but people did not ask themselves: ‘What does it mean to change this?’ They focused on change, and they were sold a thought.
“Now, we’re back here 10 years later. I would be more interested in knowing exactly what it is that Mr. Goodluck might bring this time around that is different from what he did before people called for his removal.”
Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, were defeated in 2015 by the All Progressives Congress, APC, and late former President Muhammadu Buhari.
