from Uzonna Ononye, Lagos
You have had your share of what leadership is all about in Nigeria. You were not prepared for it but destiny cast it upon you. Yes, you took the challenge with both hands and saw it through.
There were times when it seemed you would throw in the towel but you persevered, swimming against the tide and taking down the backlashes of your actions and inaction with magnanimity.
My Dear Dr. Jonathan, you sure made mistakes, perhaps plenty of such. You took so much time to think, you trusted your enemies, you never wanted to hurt anyone, in fact, you were a gentleman through and through.
These traits could have been virtues but they didn’t particularly fit into the demands of the office you occupied.
Today, as you retire to private life, I bid you farewell not because you achieved all the set goals, not because you satisfied those you had confidence in you, no, not at all.
I salute you because you left a lesson for everyone. You rewrote the handbook on quest for leadership. You thought all of us that ambition should have a conscience. Many of those who claimed to have your back are offended and displeased that you accepted defeat. They wished you did not so that the chalice of your memory will never be borne by Doves but by Vultures.
Thank you Dr. Jonathan. Thank you for preserving our democracy. Thank you for being the best President you could be because despite the flaws, you never pretended to be who you are not.
Soon, Nigerians will wish you were still the President but it will be part of the process of pulling out and planting that will orchestrate the Change you saw and permitted.
I sincerely wish you well in all you future endeavours.
