My Transition Hours - Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (PDF)

The 194 pages book titled “My Transition Hours” written by former President, Goodluck Jonathan addresses his personality and presents the honest account of him in the heady days in brinksmanship and a bit much to hold the responsibility entrusted to him. Even though, in the struggle to accomplish the task, there was a kind of tragic political mercantilism which led to the phone call to General Muhammadu Buhari on the 31st of March, 2015 to concede the presidential election which marked the end of his term as Nigerian president on the 29th of May 2015. From the vantage point of the author, “truths come in different textures. Some never gain life but elicit some presidential chuckles but what remains constant must be the absolute knowledge of who does what in the political exchange, which is far beyond conjectures, assumption and academic analyses. Thus, sometimes one knows the truth but one tends to save the game”. The author vividly captures this in the biblical allusion of Psalm 34:14, which says “turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it” which is a symbol of posterity.

The book also points out two important events like the abduction of the 200 Chibok school girls by Boko Haram terrorists in 2014 and the deregulation of fuel subsidy in 2012 as the two scores which necessitate the drive of political momentum of the opposition at that time. Another bone of contention in the narrative is that of religion and the North-South divide. Apparently, the preceding argument makes the book a combination of facts and stories of day-to-day account of personal feelings. Another heartbeat in the book is the fact that the author categorically accept that his administration is a combination of bad and good just like in any other administration. One uppermost thing that always preoccupied his mind is to make sure that the wrong did not outweigh the right and his ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian. Another hallmark of the book is the good command of language as words are often used to a great advantage which paints the mental picture in the reader’s mind especially on the historical antecedent of democratic processes in Nigeria. It is to the credit of the author that the simplicity of language and subject matter did nothing to reduce the profound theme of the book. The paragraphs of the book seem to be well arranged with excellent series of ideas, if not on few cases like on page 25 where there is a breakdown of paragraphs which leads to lack of nexus in ideas connectivity. In the book also, grammatical rules of punctuation are carefully followed. However, the prologue of the book is too long for an average reader. The name of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was misspelt as ‘Umoru’ on pages 17, 61, this discredits the book as people don’t take their names for granted. Another pitfall in the book is that of inaccurate presentation of information as vital information especially in the soft copy of the book were expunged. The author’s claim on page 31 that Boko Haram wanted a Muslim President is a polemic to the present administration because Boko Haram actually began their deadliest attack in Borno State under the regime of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adu. The activities of the insurgents have nothing to do with religion as they attack churches and mosques. Also, the Chibok School girls’ saga as captured and presented in chapter four of the book is a product of conspiracy by the then opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) is too pronounced. Furthermore, the statement made by the author concerning the former United States President Barack Obama and Borno State Government on the account of undermining his efforts to rescue the Chibok girls in 2014 is too metaphoric. Conclusively, it is my hope that in the subsequent edition of “My Transition Hours”, the author would take care of such lapses and innuendos, since this is a mental work. I commend the effort of the author.

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