Former President Goodluck Jonathan has spoken of the tensed
moments he faced on March 28, 2015 ahead of his decision to concede victory to
President Muhammadu Buhari after that year’s presidential election.
“I was actually in that
valley on March 28, 2015”, he said.
Jonathan also
narrated why he relinquished power to Buhari, saying he did not want
Nigeria to slide into a theatre of war, with his fellow county men and
woman dying, and many more pouring into other nations in Africa and beyond, as
refugees.
“I never knew that the
human brain had the capacity for such enhanced rapid thinking. One hundred and
one things were going through my mind every second. My country was at the
verge of collapse. The tension in the land was abysmally high and palpable, in
the months leading to the election. The country became more polarised more than
ever before, such that the gap between the North and the South and between
Christians and Muslims became quite pronounced”, the former President said.
“In fact, it became so
disturbing that some interest groups in the United States began to
predict indeed, many Nigerians did buy into this doomsday prophesy as they
began to brace themselves for the worst.
“As the President, I
reminded myself that the Government I led had invested so much effort into
building our country. I worked hard with my top officials to encourage
Nigerians and non-Nigerians to invest in our country to be able to provide jobs
and improve the lives of our people.
“We worked hard to grow
our economy and to improve and bring Nigeria up as the biggest economy in
Africa, with a GDP of about half a trillion dollars”.
Jonathan told his
story, last week, during a dinner in his honour by Cercle Diplomatique, Geneva,
Switzerland. The former President also spoke about his foray into politics, the
allure of power and future plans.
-Vanguard
Fine, but you loss with a wide margin. Besides, how would give account to the Armgate as the president then. Nigerians were asking you. Election have come and gone.
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