Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan, who formally declared he would run for president on Saturday, is a fedora-wearing zoologist who has had an unlikely rise through his country’s ruthless political world.
In a break with tradition, he initially revealed his intention to join the race on his Facebook page Wednesday, where he has more than 200 000 fans.
With his low-key approach to politics, a series of unexpected events have propelled him to the doorstep of what could turn out to be a historic victory in Africa’s most populous nation, if he wins the vote.
Jonathan (52) would be the first elected president from the Niger Delta, the country’s main oil-producing region, as well as the first from outside the nation’s three main ethnic groups:
Yoruba, Hausa-Fulani and Igbo.
His candidacy for the elections next January has drawn a wide range of reactions throughout the country and beyond, with some saying it could lead to a doomsday scenario and others arguing that it represents progress.
Unwritten policy in the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party has long dictated that it rotate its candidates between the Muslim north and predominantly Christian south every second term — a form of power-sharing in a nation roughly split in half between Christians and Muslims and with about 250 ethnic groups.
Jonathan, a southern Christian from the Ijaw ethnic group, slipped into the vacant presidency following the death of his predecessor Umaru Yar’Adua in May. He had been deputy president since 2007.
The PDP, dominant in Nigerian politics since the country returned to civilian rule in 1999, is divided between backing Jonathan or a northern Muslim candidate.
Some observers have expressed concern that Jonathan’s candidacy will undo the careful compromise helping hold the country together.
Others say it is a sign that Nigeria has begun moving away from politics based on ethnicity.
Either way, the easy-going politician from a family of canoe makers has come to represent something larger than his quiet personality suggests.
Steady rise to power
Jonathan, rarely seen in public without the robe and fedora that Niger Delta natives often wear, has enjoyed a steady rise to power since ditching his job with a government agency in 1998.
The following year, he became deputy governor for the key southern oil-producing Bayelsa State.
In 2005, his boss was impeached over money laundering charges in Britain and Jonathan took over as governor.
Yar’Adua, in need of a southerner to balance his ticket, picked Jonathan for vice-president in 2007.
Observers said Jonathan was the favourite because he was seen as the cleanest of all the governors of the southern states.
He was also perceived to have been picked for the job to help pacify the disgruntled militants in the restive Niger Delta region who have played havoc with oil output in the world’s eighth-largest exporter of crude. – AFP