At the heart of the last elections stood several issues – the proposition that Nigeria would break up was a major one and the build-up to the election itself made it look very likely with the then opposition party threatening to form a parallel government and several stakeholders of the then ruling PDP vowing that General Muhammadu Buhari would only become President over their dead bodies.

In it all, there was one man – perhaps put in place for just that moment – he at last made the right call and with that call averted what may have been a crisis. Some for that reason call him a Hero – as well within their right – but Heroism for me is not conferred on men while they yet live.

Goodluck Jonathan was a misunderstood man who rose to power with such fearsome popularity that excited many Nigerians. As with all excitement though, the feeling faded and he became the target of extreme emotions that held him responsible for everything wrong with Nigeria since Independence.

Even in his own party, many did not respect him but for the position which he occupied. In his life there is a story, one that history will perhaps look back at and call him not a hero but something roughly translating to “saviour”.

But he was human and had his failings – in profiling him for “Man of the Year”, I am reminded that he is but a man, a mortal – with all our tendencies to make mistakes but with the ability to by one move make everything become right.

In his humanity, Jonathan failed to make himself clear to the people. He failed to rely on the popularity that had brought him into Power and perhaps became captive to forces within the system whose loyalty is always ever only to Power.

But on one thing was he unflinching: in his commitment to Democratic tenets and principles – to the Rule of Law, to the Freedom of Information and to Free and Fair Elections.

They called him weak but his weakness helped INEC for instance to become a great institution of fair elections under Prof. Attahiru Jega. Maybe this weakness also left EFCC to become nothing more than a paper tiger but we cannot hold him responsible for the latter without praising him for the former.

There once was a Messiah who was called weak according to the standards of men. He had been expected to come and lead His people against their oppressors with a sword but He came in peace. Where they expected Him to be harsh, He was tolerant – they couldn’t understand and they finally gave up on Him – they wanted a strong man as their messiah.

The man born in Otuoke saved Nigeria from what may have been our worst political crisis since the June 12, 1993 debacle. In conceding victory to General Buhari, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan became one politician who walked his talk when he had said “My election is not worth the blood of any Nigerian”.

One thing many are willing to do these days is absolve Goodluck Jonathan of the many things wrong with his government – many recognise his goodness and strength of character.

As he traverses the world now trailed with accolades and celebrated as Africa’s poster boy for Democracy, history would be the best determiner of whether he is just another hero or if he was the messiah that saved Nigeria from become two nations or even more than two.

What we in 2015 cannot deny though is that for a very long period, this man was the main issue this year – “would he or would he not?” was the question on our lips. Even now, out of power, he is still an issue and the numbers of his supporters swell daily as shown with the massive outpouring of birthday wishes that forced facebook and google to officially recognise his birthday.

Many look forward to his memoirs in 2016 so perhaps he is indeed a hero. One thing is clear though: this man may have saved Nigeria from a political disaster, the consequences of which none of us can now predict.

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Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

Demola Olarewaju is a political analyst and strategist who tweets from @DemolaRewaju