My Transition - Jonathan Ebele REMADE (B) Page 2

  itself had been sentenced to the academic shredder, the relativity of

  its deployment could not be eradicated permanently. This probably

  explains why the reservations vanished even as the echoes of my

  retreating footsteps still resounded nationally, globally.

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  I N T R O D U C T I O N

  It is the norm to praise the fading regime and to begin chewing an

  emerging one towards the eventual spitting off, but it appears this

  one is happening all too fast even with an opposition in clear

  discomfiture. Why? I suppose time and events would provide the

  best answers to that question.

  I must be emphatic that My Transition Hours is not my biography.

  That would come later. Rather, this is a personal and very honest

  account of my stewardship in the heady days in which

  brinksmanship another role for me, thrusting upon us the

  responsibility to rein our nation in from a needless dangerous

  precipice by a menacing and rather tragic political mercantilism.

  This depicts the months and weeks leading to my unprecedented

  st

  phone call to General Muhammadu Buhari on the 31 of March,

  2015 to concede that he won the presidential election. It is also an

  effort to capture a certain return trip to my private life in the days

  which followed that very deliberate and well thought out concession

  call.

  In my country, elections are automatically followed up by litigation.

  By norm, no election was concluded before court pronouncement.

  In fact, election petition is an integral part of campaign strategy. I

  personally view it more as a tragedy, always factored-in way ahead as

  if to say it was going to happen. It was a source of amusement to me

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  M Y T R A N S I T I O N H O U R S

  and that amusement eased up a lot of other tricky considerations

  which could have stood in the way of my judgment in the interest of

  my country, the ordinary people who would have borne the brunt of

  a wrong choice and the rest of West Africa which could and would

  have been flooded by Nigeria's considerable population.

  My term as Nigerian president terminated on the 29th of May, 2015.

  I am of unshaken conviction that my last months and moments in

  office should be documented as they are inextricably tied to

  establishing a path for my very present, further emergence as an

  agent of peace for our trapped and troubled but beloved continent,

  even beyond my crisis-ridden country, no less loved.

  This is a delayed, up close and personal account of the boy, the man

  and the president.

  The personal insults, unfounded negative accusations and calculated

  vicious attacks directed at me during my presidency were, of course,

  quite challenging, but greater than the challenge (looking back now)

  was our stoic bearing (mostly) and focus on that avowed

  commitment to our promises, belief and desire to work and walk

  through the guidance of democratic tenets.

  Isn't commitment the key to motivation?

  What makes one person more determined than another?

  xx

  I N T R O D U C T I O N

  From a president's vantage point, certain truths come in different

  textures. Some considered conspiracy theories suddenly assume an

  uncanny reality. Some never gain life but elicit some presidential

  chuckles. What remains constant must be the absolute knowledge of

  who does what in the political exchange, far beyond conjectures,

  assumptions and academic analyses. As president, you know the

  truth but you save the game.

  For instance, the word "clueless" was most hilarious because it was

  quite thoughtless. A Nigerian president had too much clue and

  competence at his beck and call to be clueless. The enormous human

  and material resource attached to the office of president would

  appear too much for the "clueless" crowd to wrap their heads

  around. I consider it good luck and great honor to have had the kind

  of greats who served in my team.

  On the other hand, you found the source could not stand aside our

  team members with any degree of valid authentication anywhere in

  the world where clues were being sought. Such authentications had

  paled into tacky controversies on each occasion. I remain proud of

  my team. Posterity would honor most of them awere bankrolling the

  traffic with vengeance. Those were interesting times, but the present

  I would consider more interesting in a way, especially from the

  ringside seat.

  xxi

  M Y T R A N S I T I O N H O U R S

  I never intended going into Nigerian politics. It was either not built

  for my temperament or my nature was generally not tailored for it. I

  saw our politics from the average perspective of the academia and I

  stirred clear. It was simply too far from all the indices we were

  accustomed to. Science does not help it. Arithmetics does not

  complement it. The late Okadigbo's "simple political arithmetics"

  might confuse you further. Finally, logic does not back it. True, some

  academics found it invigorating, but I got 'drafted'.

  Again, I suspect that my timidity in the face of such incalculable

  vocations like the Nigerian version of politics is was a sheer

  reflection of my natural trait, as I would rather engage in

  preoccupations far less conflicting and chaotic.

  If you spoke with my mother, you would not need to prompt her too

  far before she reveals to you her observations of my steady traits

  from birth-bed. It should be embarrassing to quote mama on such

  very personal notes but I believe I should.

  "... from concession to birth, my son gave me peace. He was never

  sick and during breastfeeding, he never bit me like all my other nd I

  personally could not thank them enough, who lasted the distance.

  Knowing, reduced the pang of the ceaseless assaults. For me, they

  were moments of mirth and comic relief, even if it was a dangerous

  xxii

  I N T R O D U C T I O N

  drug the media was willing to push and the barons babies did. As a

  young boy, he never complained about the workload assigned.

  Instead, he would rather intervene to restore peace whenever there

  was a problem between his friends and other kids in the village".

  - Mama President

  I could easily understand if my dear mother's words are found by

  some to be platitudinous, if we make a broad application of those

  words to a discourse on as serious an issue as national, regional or

  global leadership. Or even some lay psycho analysis. However, I

  could say with great belief that it speaks to my own reality.

  My mother endowed my core essence at a very early age and those

  words might prove very useful in understanding my public persona

  from a motherly introspection of a tenant in her womb and diner at

  her bosom. Her own child.

  It should be a valid testimony since she gained nothing she would

  have lost by stating it as such and doubtful still if she lost anything

  she would have gained by not stating it like that. Suffice to say that

  those words captured my directi
on in life's pursuits in every situation

  I walked into, found myself or which contexts life threw at me. The

  pursuit of peace has always been, for me, above all else.

  I tend to achieve peace no matter whatever price tag hung on it,

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  M Y T R A N S I T I O N H O U R S

  totally convinced in my being that the option would come at a greater

  price. My mother's words should shed light on and give power to

  comprehending the unrelenting pursuit of peace which burns deep

  inside of me.

  turn from evil and do good

  Seek peace and pursue it.

  Psalm 34: 14

  It is a psalm which highlights a scary angle to the understanding of

  peace. It also prepares peace agents for great rigor and acquisition of

  intelligence. You do not seek that which is readily available and in the

  open. You seek peace because it is in hiding. You pursue peace

  because it is always in flight. You therefore, need a greater pace than

  peace in flight!. Peace is never in stasis.

  So, you are likely to find some phrases like "elusive peace" as easily

  discounting, if not outrightly discountenancing that spiritual

  philosophy which aptly situates and defines peace. Elusiveness,

  flight and hiding are all the attributes of peace. It takes grit,

  smartness and sacrifice to achieve it. Owing into a young man, I went

  all out for my love of animals and the environment. This led me into

  zoology and a Ph.D in the same study.

  I graduated in 1981 and attended my one-year National Youth

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  I N T R O D U C T I O N

  Service in Iresi, a nice sleepy suburb of Osun State.

  Between 1982 and 1998, I was an education Inspector, lecturer and

  Environment Protection Officer. I could hardly delete the spur I got

  from the flora and fauna of my native Otuoke. The animals, waters,

  plants and people. Sadly, the flora and fauna now lay largely wasted

  and the inhabitants looking very much like the wasted environment,

  because you really could not separate the people from their

  environment. You could now see the price Otuoke paid for its

  natural resource estate.

  An estate bestowed on it by divine allocation, but pretty much

  reallocated now.

  My community, local government and indeed my home-state,

  Bayelsa faced developmental problems which I concluded only

  government could solve.

  I hobnobbed with politicians in my early forties. They were mostly

  friends and social contacts. I restrained myself from joining any

  political party though. At the registration of democratic parties, I

  found myself increasingly engaged with the political process.

  In the coming chapters, my unexpected entry into full-blown

  politicking might interest the reader. My first few tepid steps raised

  many questions in my mind and these questions go back to staple

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  M Y T R A N S I T I O N H O U R S

  arguments in street and even informed analysis of politics. Aged

  arguments, propositions, thesis and antithesis, all prominent

  occupants in the huge household of theory. I was getting

  dangerously close to the kitchen. Leaving the realm of theory

  behind.

  Could I...would I be different?

  Was it even possible to be different?

  Would my intentions meet with appreciation?

  The solid general impression is that a vast majority of politicians are

  into politics for selfish reasons. That they chase pecuniary gains, a

  goal which could be scored through political relevance and

  influence. The tide would naturally be against me for daring to be

  different and bearing other reasons for wearing the politician's

  badge. That tide would surge incrementally during my presidency.

  You do realize the futility of persuading Nigerians that not every last

  politician is cast in that sordid mode. Not that the people had not

  seen enough before we arrived. They had seen too much. Every

  politician would then have to prove his fidelity, but more

  importantly, show your democratic credentials. I think it is a greater

  damage when a politician lives and operates above democracy that

  when he fiddles with the kitty. None of the two evils is tolerable.

  xxvi

  I N T R O D U C T I O N

  It is also tough for the individual politician to wave clean credentials

  in the midst of his political stock. In order that you know and

  understand me, I will portray two noteworthy events during my term

  in office as president. This should help crystallize the image of a

  truly democratic president fully committed to peace and the people

  on behalf of whom he holds power. There are some things you

  would not do if there was no force ingrained in you which militates

  against your internal democratic element. Like if you had been

  condition by earlier circumstances to force things through rather

  than reason them through.

  These events of which I speak are (1) The "abduction of 200 Chibok

  school girls by Boko Haram terrorists in 2014, and (2) the

  deregulation of fuel subsidy in 2012.

  I intend to give the reader a clear chance at comprehending my

  actions and the projections of my government on those two scores.

  They were two events of great significance among many, not only

  because of the main national arteries they were attached to, but also

  because of their timing. One at a fairly early moment of our

  administration and the other one at the home stretch.

  While they were like ammo in the hands of the opposition's huge, if

  corrupt media machine (which did drive some political momentum),

  it is redoubtable if they were game changers as they would want the

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  M Y T R A N S I T I O N H O U R S

  world to believe.

  Moving forward, I would urge you to ponder over the following:

  Did I know what I was going to do if I lost the election?

  Did I believe the electoral process was free and fair?

  What led to my decision to concede?

  What goes on in the mind of a president committed to peace?

  These concerns and doubts will be addressed as you follow my

  odyssey as a witness and a lead-role actor in this epic, as they connect,

  though I urge you to first catch up on relevant history of Africa.

  This story, my personal account is for people of all races, creeds,

  colors and all manner of diversities around the world.

  xxviii

  C H A P T E R

  1

  “I had always borne a heavy burden to make

  some difference in the lives of my people. To

  help them as much as I could.”

  chapter one

  LOOKING BACK

  First, let me explain my unusual entry into Nigerian politics. It is a

  little puzzling because I was almost decidedly not going into

  politics, but I need to clarify this before going into my story.

  In 1999, a man I had come to know was in the gubernatorial

  contest of my state, Bayelsa, in the South-southern part of

  Nigeria. Completely out of the blues, he asked me to be his

  running mate. In a daze, I asked myself, "This man has that much

  fai
th in me?" I often reflect on how one man's word could have

  such a profound impact on you and the known course of your life

  is transformed forever.

  Being a Christian, the power of such word and their life-changing

  3

  M Y T R A N S I T I O N H O U R S

  effect was not strange to my spiritual consciousness, but that

  knowledge does not reduce their radical effect on the object of

  their occurrence.

  I had always borne a heavy burden to make some difference in the

  lives of my people. To help them as much as I could. You could

  not but nurse such a heartfelt onus if you knew Bayelsa, (Niger

  Delta) - what it was, what it had become and what it could easily

  have been. You felt it was your responsibility to make some

  positive difference in the lives of these people who committed the

  unforgivable crime of being an oil-rich patch of Nigeria. Now, the

  opportunity to lead my people was presenting itself with a thump

  on my chest. As a challenge!

  The compulsion to lead by example drove me to begin weighing

  the advantages of having a political platform instead of the lecture

  theater and the measured academic fora where colleagues sparred

  and generally led from inside the people's minds. Yet, how many

  were we really able to touch that way? This was different. Here

  comes a chance to be heard, yes, but also to push the frontiers of

  peace. Now I could be heard in an infinitely larger auditorium. My

  quest for peace would receive some fillip. I could be an agent of

  tangible change in unrestrained dimensions. The excitement was

  gripping and the motivation, powerful. Yes, I was off and running,

  as they say.

  4

  L O O K I N G B A C K

  In 1999, I was elected Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, on the

  same ticket as the People's Democratic Party governorship

  candidate, DSP Alamieyeseigha. A little while into our second

  term in office, Governor Alamieyeseigha was charged with

  corruption in December 2005. It was an occurrence which

  elevated me to the office of governor. The second bump came in

  2006 barely one year on when I was selected as the Vice

  Presidential candidate of the PDP... to run with Umaru Musa Yar

  'Adua.

  The election held in April 2007 and the inauguration in May. This

  in the chequered history of our country, was the first time an

  elected president was handing over to another elected president in