Reno Omokri has eulogized former President Goodluck Jonathan.
He said the ex-Governor of Bayelsa State did not pardon Boko Haram terrorists, a veil reference to the Buhari administration’s reintegration of repentant insurgents.
Omokri was Jonathan’s Special Assistant on New Media.
On Thursday, he paid tribute to the former Nigerian leader on his 63 years birthday.
The author described Jonathan as the best President in the history of the country.
“He identified the single biggest problem in Nigeria, illiteracy, and addressed it by building 165 Almajiri schools, and 14 new universities – 13 built from the scratch and one, the Police College, Wudil, Kano, upgraded to a full university,” Omokri said.
Omokri noted that Jonathan was detribalised and did not focus on development in his home state or the South-South region.
He added that, “Some people mock him for this. But that is a father’s heart. I remember once when we were at London’s Heathrow, and the Nigerian High Commission sent a car to pick President Jonathan up.
“I was waiting to pick a taxi to join him at his destination, when he said ‘don’t be silly’, and shifted from what we call the owner’s corner in Nigeria, for me to sit, he sat on the other side. Which other Nigerian leader can be that humble?”
Omokri insisted that Jonathan built the nation’s single largest infrastructure project – the 187km Abuja-Kaduna railway.
The government critic said humility is often regarded as gutless and that citizens can now see that what they called weakness was strength under control.
“Herdsmen were afraid under Jonathan. Bandits were unknown. Yes, we had Boko Haram, but they knew they would be devastated when caught, rather than being rehabilitated,” he said.
Noting that it was under his ex-principal that Nigeria recorded the highest increase in life expectancy, Omokri expressed delight that Jonathan has been on peace missions across Africa.
