I read with disbelief and shock, an
article obviously written by the national chairman of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus which carried the byeline of his media adviser, Ike Abonyi and published on Thursday, January 28, 2021.

I waited for these few days before responding to the publication to see whether Secondus would reprimand Ike Abonyi or at least put out a disclaimer, disassociating himself from the disrespectful write-up.

His failure to do any of the above is therefore a confirmation that the PDP national chairman either wrote, supervised or endorsed the publication.
It is surprising that the national chairman of the PDP could throw decorum to the wind to publicly at￾tack no less a personality than Goo￾dluck Jonathan who apart from being a former president produced by the PDP, is still the leader of the party, going by PDP books.

In the article titled: “Jonathan’s 2023 Selfish Gamble,” Secondus or Ike Abonyi expressed disappoint￾ment that Jonathan has not come out to tell Nigerians and the world that he has no interest in returning to the office as president of Nigeria as well as rebuke those calling on him to contest the 2023 presiden￾tial election.

Although the PDP national chair￾man grudgingly acknowledged that Jonathan has become a global icon and international statesman as well as the huge sacrifices, he made in 2015 when he conceded defeat and handed over power to then Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (Now Presi￾dent and Commander-in-Chief), he wondered why the former president is now romancing with northerners who, he said, ganged up against him in 2015.

“Some water may have passed under the bridge for the heavy twist in the tongue which ostensibly is intended to appeal to certain nort￾hern sentiments. Something must have happened for him to be dining
with the same people who ganged up and threw him away, could it be that he is the man who will do their bidding now or they are setting him up for the usual use and dump?” he had questioned.

I am responding to this write￾up as a Nigerian who loves and admires the former president who is also my hero. Knowing Jona￾than, it would not be surprising if he told his media aides not to re￾spond to any of such attacks. But
since I don’t work for or with him, I do not bear the burden of waiting to get clearance before responding to anyone that attacked the for￾mer president, as I would continue to do, henceforth.

In my latest book titled “Dear President Goodluck Jonathan (An Open Letter)” which was presen￾ted to the public on December 15, 2020 at the International Confe￾rence Centre Abuja, I suggested
that it would be good if Jonathan
should play less politics in Nigeria
to enable him concentrate on wa￾ging peace across countries as well
as helping those in need through
his Goodluck Jonathan Foundati￾on as he is currently doing. But tho￾se were what they should be- sug￾gestions.

Because as I also stated in the book, Jonathan has the right to pursue his destiny.Therefore, if God says Jonathan’s
assignment for Nigeria is not yet
completed, not even Jonathan him￾self can stop the wave. Otherwise, he would be given the biblical Jo￾nah treatment and sent to Nineveh through the belly of a fish.One question I would like to ask
Secondus at this point is- what right does he have to direct Jona￾than to rebuke those calling on him to contest the 2023 presiden￾tial election when the former presi￾dent has equally ignored those that
have called him all manner of insul￾ting names over the years?

If Secon￾dus does not want to hear the name “Jonathan,” when it comes to poli￾tics, there are millions of people, in￾cluding highly placed citizens that
believe in the former president’s capacity to reconcile the country as well as take it to a new height based on his experience on the job as well as those he has garnered since 2015 when he left office.

Having said that, many political￾ly enlightened Nigerians know why
Secondus cannot be comfortable with any person asking Jonathan to run for president in 2023, espe￾cially under the PDP umbrella.Going through Secondus’s (or Ike Abonyi’s) piece, one would ea￾sily see the level of frustration and outright anger that motivated the vituperations. As the Managing Editor of Daily Times newspaper then, I personally travelled to Port Harcourt in 2018 to cover the PDP
National Convention. We heard
stories of the huge financial indu￾cement that went the way of some top PDP leaders by particular aspi￾rants seeking to fly the party’s pre￾sidential flag for the 2019 election.

Now that another party conven￾tion is not too far away, it is very clear that some people in the par￾ty desperately want to fence some aspirants out in order to narrow the race to their target money-bag(s) aspirants. They are therefore app￾lying blackmail and other dubious tactics to harass and intimate de￾cent politicians out of the race- the
overall aim is to make the final fi￾nancial kill before leaving the office, thereafter. We know all these.In the article, Secondus attemp￾ted to pitch the South East against Jonathan by saying the former pre￾sident should have outrightly said that he will not run in 2023 and
that the office should be left for the zone that has not produced a president. This is coming from the mouth or brain of the same Secon￾dus, whose leadership has refused to respond to the call to declare that the PDP presidential ticket would
go to the South, the reason why Governor David Umahi has decam￾ped to the All Progressives Congress (APC) with speculations that more South East governors would follow.

Maybe Secondus has not heard. Let me therefore tell him what peop￾le are saying- that the PDP leadership which he heads, is not interested in winning elections, but is more con￾cerned with what would enter their individual pockets from conventions and state primaries.

– Melah writes from Abuja