For
those who grew up in Oguta, in Imo State a few years before the Civil War, the
name “Aguduma” would bring back memories. It was the qualification of a young
boy, whose friends considered too handsome and therefore, nicknamed him
“Aguduma,” meaning “Handsome Goodluck.”
That
boy, today, has become a man. He’s not an ordinary man, but one, who has risen
from, perhaps, a nobody to the pinnacle of Nigeria’s leadership. That boy is
today the president of Nigeria. That boy is President Goodluck Jonathan.
Yes,
President Jonathan once lived in Oguta. While there, before the war, he
attended St. Paul’s Anglican Church Primary School. He was nicknamed ‘Aguduma”
by his peers in primary school.
Telling
Daily Sun the story of Jonathan, as a boy growing up in Oguta, Madam
Emilia Ajie, from Ogbaru area of Anambra State, revealed that the president
lived with his uncle, popularly called Chief and his son in their (Madam
Emilia) compound at the Kalabari Beach, in Oguta 11. According to the
septuagenarian, Jonathan was always ill-treated by his uncle, who never bought
him school books, sandals or other things he needed for school. She revealed
that Jonathan was always the last, among the pupils who lived in the compound,
to go to school daily because of house chores he must complete every morning.
Madam Emilia further revealed that President Jonathan has always been a quite
and respectful person, who, even in the face of hardship inflicted on him by
his uncle, refused to accept unsolicited gifts from people. She revealed that
even when his uncle left him behind for home, the young Jonathan engaged
himself in menial jobs to survive.
According
to her, “Goodluck is a very quite and respectful person, even in the face of
hardship inflicted on him by his uncle, who was popularly called Chief and we
always felt sorry for him because of the way his uncle was treating him. They
were then living in our boys’ quarters. His uncle’s son usually did nothing. It
was Goodluck, who did everything in the house, including cooking.” Madam Emilia
recalled that at the end of the civil war, in 1970, President Jonathan’s uncle,
who she said had married an Izombe woman, left him and his son, who were yet to
finish their primary school education at St. Paul’s Anglican Church Primary
School, Kalabari Beach, Oguta 11, behind and promised to come back for them.
She stated that the uncle later sent for his son, while the young Jonathan was
left behind in Oguta to fend for himself. “When Chief, Goodluck’s uncle, left
with his wife, who was from Izombe, for their hometown, he had left behind his
son and Goodluck because they were still in school and had promised to come
back for them. But after his son finished his primary school, Chief sent for
him and left Goodluck behind,” she said.
She
revealed how Jonathan once had an accident that frightened everybody. According
to her, “one days, while Goodluck was still living in our compound, he had gone
to pluck mango with other young boys, but fell from the tree and as I was
returning from the market I heard children shouting that ‘Aguduma’ had fallen
off the mango tree and I quickly rushed to scene and used my head-tie to bind
his fractured right hand. “My husband’s brother, popularly known as Ajasco, who
was returning from the farm, had carried him (Jonathan), with the assistance of
other children and took him to a popular traditional bonesetter in the
neigbourhood, called Nwanyiogu from Mgidi but married to Kalabari man. And
while he was receiving treatment for his injured hand, we were always bringing
him food because both his uncle and the son had gone back to their hometown.”
Madam Emilia pointed out that since Jonathan left Oguta in 1972 she has not set
eyes on him again nor heard anything about him. She revealed that she only got
to know that Jonathan had become the president of Nigeria when she saw, in 2011
an Almanac bearing his photograph and had exclaimed: “Look at Goodluck!”
She
stated that as she shouted, the man who was selling the almanac asked what
happened. On telling him that she knew Jonathan, she said, the man told her
that Goodluck was the president of Nigeria. Waxing philosophical, she said:
“Whatever God has destined for anybody must come to past because nobody will
ever have thought that Goodluck will, one day become the president of Nigeria. I
thank God for his life because he really suffered under his uncle and most
times I had asked him then if his parents were alive and he always said yes,
but through out his stay in our compound, his parents never visited him.” Also,
talking about his experiences with Jonathan, Patrick Ajie, Madam Emilia’s son,
who is now a staff of the Imo State Fire Service, recalled how the president
and his uncle and son lived in their boys’ quarters at Kalabari Beach in Oguta
11.
He
said that when President Jonathan arrived Oguta with his uncle, he started at
Primary Four, at the St. Paul’s Anglican Church Primary School, which was
established by the Kalabari people in Oguta 11. He revealed that Jonathan
finished his Primary Six in the school. Ajie corroborated his mother’s story
that even after Jonathan’s uncle invited his son home, to join him and wife,
President Jonathan continued to live with them.
On
how Jonathan left Oguta, he stated that they did not see him for about two
days, at that time, and therefore made inquiry from some Ijaw, who told them
that he had gone to Egbema in search of one of his relatives. According to him,
that was the last they heard of him until they heard about his emergence as
president. “President Goodluck Jonathan had lived with his uncle and his son,
who was younger, in my father’s compound at Kalabari Beach in Oguta. We
occupied the main building, while they lived in the ‘Boys Quarters’. It was
from there that he completed his primary school at St. Paul’s Anglican Church
Primary School and he had started at From Four. Of course, he was my senior in
the same school. Even his uncle returned to their hometown, with his new wife
from Izombe and left behind Goodluck and his son. He had promised to come for
them when they were through with their primary school education. But later his
uncle sent somebody to bring his son back to their home town and left Goodluck
behind with us.” Ajie said Jonathan later left between 1972 and 1973, first to
Egbema, in search of one of relatives and finally to his village.
On
whether he had ever met Jonathan, since he became president, Ajie said no, as
nobody has allowed him into the presidential villa of the president’s Otuoke
home. Said he: “I have tried severally to see him. I had even gone to Bayelsa
and Abuja, but my all efforts have proved abortive. I wanted to see him at
least to rekindled old times because we had a very good relationship with him
while he and his uncle were living in our compound.”
Asked
if he though Jonathan would recognize him in a crowd, as they parted ways as
young people, he stated that he was not sure, but added that the president
would never forget that he ever lived in the compound of the Ajies in Kalahari
Beach, in Oguta.
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