••• Says 1,000 Jonathan Will Still Fail Woefully
Lagos-based legal practitioner and human rights activist, Dele Farotimi, has strongly criticised calls for former President Goodluck Jonathan’s return to power in 2027, warning that Nigeria’s problems are systemic, not personal.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday as monitored by Roving Reporters, Farotimi said the current political discourse is a dangerous distraction from the real work of nation-building.
“A thousand Goodluck Jonathans will still fail woefully,” he declared. “Our problems go beyond personalities. If you remove one leader and do not touch the evil system that produces them, nothing changes.”
1,000 Goodluck Ebele Jonathans cannot solve the problems of Nigeria. Even if his brain power were multiplied by a factor of 1,000, nothing would change unless the nation addresses its structural faults and tells itself the basic truths it avoids.
“We can recycle all these people as many times as they care,” Farotimi said, recalling how Jonathan was “horribly beautified” by the press, pulpit, and mosques in 2015.
The activist questioned why Jonathan’s removal in 2015 is now being repackaged as a mistake, likening it to Nigeria’s tendency to dig up the past in search of saviours.
“If you remove Bola Ahmed Tinubu from office today and do not touch the ecosystem that produces the kind of people who have ruined this country, nothing changes. All this talk about Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is just more distraction from the political witchcraft. We are not looking for saviours or Voltrons. It’s about building systems—enduring systems.”
Farotimi lamented what he described as “horribly beautified” narratives attempting to rebrand Jonathan’s tenure, warning that the political elite’s interest in his comeback was about self-preservation, not the public good.
“How do you rebrand the failure of 2015 into a saint and saviour in 2025? Ten years later, we are back to saying we were better off where we were in 2015. Maybe Buhari might as well have done us a favour by not making us wait a decade to find out,” he said.
He insisted that discussions about 2027 should focus on concrete policy reforms in education, security, agriculture, and governance structure, not on recycling former leaders.
“There were valid reasons to remove Jonathan in 2015. Almost every critical voice in this country supported his removal. So, what has changed?” Farotimi asked. “We should talk about real issues—how to ensure leaders care about Nigerians and bring them out of the virtual servitude in which we live.”
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