December 13, 2009 12:39AMT
The widely-reported clamour for the resignation of Nigeria's Vice President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan [pictured] is one in a series of challenges that have marked all 10 years of his stint as a politician. But, apparently, Mr. Jonathan's "talisman" is his first name.
Mr. Jonathan was born November 20, 1957 in Otuoke in Ogbia Local Council of the then Rivers State, now Bayelsa State. His father, Lawrence Ebele Jonathan, was a canoe carver but his childhood friend, Johnny Turner, now a traditional ruler in the state, disclosed in 2007 that the elder Mr. Jonathan's hard work ensured young Goodluck and his siblings enjoyed formal education.
The man who would later be Nigeria's Vice President began his education in what is today Bayelsa State, beginning with primary school in Otuoke and Oloibiri. He bagged a West African School Certificate in 1975 after studies at Mater Dei High School, Imiringi.
Mr. Jonathan thereafter worked for two years as an officer in the Department of Customs and Excise, leaving in 1977 to undertake a degree in Zoology at the University of Port Harcourt.
After receiving a B.Sc in 1981, he began his career as an academic at the Department of Biology at the Rivers State College of Education, Port Harcourt. He left in 1993 to take up appointment as an Assistant Director in the defunct Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC).
Two years later in 1995, he was awarded a Ph.D in Zoology by the University of Port Harcourt; a follow-up to a 1985 M.Sc. degree in Hydro-Biology and Fisheries Biology, also from the same institution.
The road to Politics
Nicknamed ‘Azikiwe' after Nigeria's first president by his grandmother, Mr. Jonathan was House Prefect in years four and five during his high school days, as well as Secretary to the School Food Committee, and Chairman of the Committee of Prefects. He was also elected Representative of the Congress in the Senior Staff Appointments and Promotions Committee at the Rivers State College of Education until 1993. However, about five years later, Mr. Jonathan would shed his academic robes and move into mainstream politics.
What's in a name?
On October 1, 1996, Bayelsa State was created out of the old Rivers State and Mr. Jonathan's Ogbia Council happened to fall into Bayelsa State. Not only was a new state created, a new political arena now emerged, compared to the politically-advanced Rivers State. By 1999, Mr. Jonathan had joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and was picked as running-mate to Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, the party's gubernatorial candidate. Both won a second term in 2003, but the coincidence of Mr. Jonathan's first name made news headlines when, as Deputy Governor, he replaced Mr. Alamieyeseigha. The governor had been impeached by the state Assembly after being charged with money laundering in the United Kingdom. Mr. Jonathan served as Governor of Bayelsa State from December 9, 2005 to May 28, 2007.
In September 2006, $13.5 million dollars was seized from Mr. Jonathan's wife, Patience, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Mrs. Jonathan, who has two children, was charged with money laundering and related offences.
Despite this, Mr. Jonathan celebrated a career-rise in December 2006, just three months later. While working on his own relection as governor of his home state, to his own surprise, he was selected as running mate to Umaru Yar'Adua as the PDP's candidates in the presidential election in April 2007.
Again, luck was Mr. Jonathan's companion as he escaped an alleged assassination attempt on April 20, 2007 in Bayelsa State as election day drew near. Then on May 16, 2007, Mr. Jonathan lived up to his name when militants blew up his country home at a time he was away. Two policemen died in the incident.
Since he was sworn in as Vice-President of Nigeria on May 29, 2007, Mr. Jonathan has managed to remain under the political radar.
He is only now in the centre of the storm on account of Mr. Yar Adua's absence from the seat of power due to ill health. The easy mien of the politician still stands him in good stead amidst the turbulence of the politics of the Nigerian presidency. But as past events show, the quiet canoe carver's son may yet manage to stay afloat as he continues his decade-long journey through Nigeria's troubled political waters.
*Photograph by NEXT
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