Farotimi Explains Why Multiplying Goodluck Jonathan A Thousand Times Won’t Save Nigeria

Human rights lawyer Dele Farotimi has poured cold water on speculation about former President Goodluck Jonathan’s possible return to frontline politics, insisting that Nigeria’s problems cannot be solved by simply changing leaders.

Reacting to reports of Jonathan’s potential re-emergence ahead of the 2027 elections, Farotimi argued that the country’s deep-rooted challenges require fundamental structural reforms, not a political recycling of past leaders.

“A thousand Goodluck Jonathans cannot fix Nigeria—multiply his brainpower a thousand times if you like. Without tackling our structural problems and speaking hard truths to ourselves, nothing will change,” Farotimi said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday.

He recalled how Jonathan was once vilified and removed from office with promises of a better Nigeria, only for the same problems to persist a decade later. “They can recycle these people endlessly. The same Jonathan who was demonised is now being painted as a saviour. We were told his removal would fix Nigeria—yet here we are,” he noted.

Farotimi warned that removing President Bola Tinubu without reforming the “evil system” that produces failed leadership would achieve nothing. “Talk of Jonathan’s return is a distraction by the political ‘ruinning’ class,” he added.

Calling for strong institutions and lasting reforms, Farotimi dismissed the search for a political messiah. “How do you rebrand the failure of 2015 into a saint and saviour in 2025? Ten years later, we’re back to longing for the past,” he said.