God Bless Nigeria
Tribute to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan; the
Definer of a New Era.
Mr. President, the elections may have come and
gone but the lessons remain in our hearts. While
many celebrate the winner in a contest as it is
traditionally, you have made us this day to
celebrate not just the winner of a historic election
but to celebrate your person too for being a
winner, though not of our votes but our hearts.
We know that many who supported you, did so
for your strengths which include, respect for
others, gentlemanliness, restorative abilities,
consultative abilities, transformational
achievements, humane disposition, sincerity and
trust, which was your greatest undoing because
many believe that leadership is the ability to
crush others or whip them to submission but you
proved them wrong.
Those who did not support you saw your strength
as weakness. They wanted you to exercise force
even when it meant crushing others, take some
drastic decisions without recourse to the rule of
law or respect for the dignity of the human
person, and use the power at your disposal to
your gains but these you resisted knowing that
you held power in trust for the people to whom
power truly belongs. Like David in the bible who
had the opportunity to slay Saul but refused, you
have written your name in gold as a man after
God’s heart and a man whose strength though
perceived as weakness has redefined who a hero
is. Nigerians will ever be grateful for being the
definer of a new era of respect for the people and
the rule of law, which your predecessor, Late
President Yar’adua believed. That you conceded
defeat means that you are indeed a winner. You
may not have won the votes of all Nigerians
within and outside Nigeria, but you have won
their hearts and by your actions this day, you
have become the one we celebrate today. Rather
than allow our blood to be spilled so that you can
remain in office, you chose to be the sacrifice so
that there will be a people to be governed. You
chose not to follow the path of those whose
kinsmen and countrymen have been slain for the
purpose of power.
Like oil that prevents friction, by your action, you
lubricated the joints of our togetherness as a
nation so that we can live as one entity. Truly, you
believed in the togetherness of our nation. As a
symbol of the oil region you came from, rather
than use the oil as fuel to consume all of us, you
chose to use it as a lubricant, so that we can
function well and move in one direction, a
direction created by our founding fathers. You
put to shame, those who for their selfish gains
drummed for war.
When the story of our democracy is told to future
generations, you will not just be a sentence or a
paragraph, the entire book will focus on you as
the true father of a democratic Nigeria; a father
who though is a dear son of the Niger Delta, is
indeed greater than his fathers who have ruled
Nigeria. Congratulations Mr. President for winning
our hearts.
Long Live Nigeria; one great nation under God!
Long live Mr. President, our present and future
hero!

First president to be voted out for non performance