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Jonathan finally reveals the 'real reasons' why he conceded to Buhari + his future plans



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.

He began: “ As you can see, I have not come here with a prepared speech, since what I consider appropriate for this occasion is to just thank you all, members and everyone else in attendance, in a few words, for the dinner and the award, in order not to make the evening look boring. But having said that, I am still tempted to note that if I were to present a written speech, the title, would probably have been “Power Tussle in Africa: A Stumbling Block to Economic Growth.” When Mr. Robert Blum, your President, made his very interesting opening remarks, he introduced me as the former President of Nigeria. He was absolutely correct.

My foray into politics


“However, I believe that not many of you here know that the story of my foray into politics has a peculiar ring to it. I entered politics in 1998 and, barely one year after, I got elected as the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa, my state. I later became Governor, Vice President and eventually got elected as the President of my country. I remain the only leader in my country to have travelled that route.

As the President, I served out my first term but, as Mr. Blum had pointed out earlier, I lost the bid to be re-elected. I am encouraged by the fact that many of you here appreciated my decision not to reject or contest my loss at the polls, not even in the courts as many people had expected.

The allure of power

“Again, I have to agree with Blum that it was not an easy decision to take. This is because the allure of power and the worries about what would become of you after leaving office constitute an irresistible

force. It has an attraction so controlling and powerful that it takes a man who has the fear of God and who loves his people and nation to relinquish power so easily in Africa.

Alone in the valley


“I was actually in that valley on March 28, 2015. I never knew that the human brain had the capacity for such enhanced rapid thinking. One hundred and one things were coursing 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 and days leading to the election. The country became more polarized more than ever before, such that the gap between the North and the South and between Christians and Muslims became quite pronounced. In fact, it became so disturbing that some interest groups in the United States began to predict that Nigeria would disintegrate in 2015. And, 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.

Posers I had to contend with

“Should I then, for the love of power, watch Nigeria slide into a theatre of war, with my fellow country men and women dying, and many more pouring into other nations in Africa and beyond, as refugees?

Should I hang on to power and tussle with my challengers, while the investments of hard working citizens of the world go down the drain? I then said to myself, NO!

Resisting the lure of power
The historic telephone call: Jonathan became the first Nigerian leader in power to concede defeat before announcement of final results

LISTEN TO THE PHONE CONVERSATION BETWEEN JONATHAN AND BUHARI BELOW




“I promised my God that I will not let that fate befall Nigeria under my watch, hence the historic telephone call I put through to congratulate my challenger even when the results were still being
tallied. I believe that for a country to be great, both the leaders and the led must be prepared to make sacrifices. This is why, everywhere I go, I always advise that the new generation of African leaders must think differently. We can no longer afford to wilfully sacrifice the blood of our citizens on the altar of dangerous partisan politics. It is not worth it. This reminds me of one of my campaign statements to the effect that my ambition was not worth the shedding of the blood of any Nigerian. Some people took it then as mere political slogan but I knew that I meant it when I said it.

We must all fight for the enthronement of political stability in Africa, for in it lies the panacea for sustainable growth and development. For Africa to record the kind of advancement that will be

competitive and beneficial to our citizens, we must have stable states supported by strong institutions. That appears to be the irreducible minimum that is common to all developed societies. Africa’s political odyssey can distinctly be categorised into three eras, and probably another that would later signpost its classification as a developed continent”.

Challenges


“Some may doubt this, but it is no fluke that Africa is growing and rising. However I will admit before you here that we still have challenges. That is why people like us did all we could to ensure that

Nigeria, the biggest black nation on earth, would not drift into anarchy because such a situation would have spelt doom for the rest of the continent. It would have affected not just Nigeria alone, but the

GDP and economy of the entire West Africa. And if the economy of West Africa crashes, it would definitely affect the performance of the economy of the whole of Africa. As you know, the GDP of Africa is less than three trillion dollars, with only six African countries able to boast of nominal GDP above $100 billion. Even for those in this ‘elite’ category, you can’t really say that they are rich countries. Apart from maybe South Africa that has an industrially competitive economy, the rest are still mainly commodity exporting countries. Even the case of that of South Africa is not very encouraging, because we have a situation which we could refer to as a first world economic performance, yet the ordinary people live the life of the people in the so called third world.

In the case of Nigeria which is even the biggest economy on the continent, the reality is that we have an unenviable per capita GDP of $3,203, which is the World Bank average for a period covering 2011-2015.

Africa’s future is bright


“Even then, I still believe that Africa has a bright future; a promising prognosis that is supported by the fact that the continent remains a very fertile and attractive territory that yields irresistible returns on investments. I believe that in the next few years many more big investors will be jostling to come to Africa, if only we will do the right thing. The process of getting it right has already started with a democratic and increasingly democratising Africa. But we have to deepen and strengthen our democratic credentials through regular, free and fair elections. This will in turn bring about the stability necessary to improve the infrastructure that promotes rapid economic growth. These are the guarantees that would lead us into the next period which I would like to call the era of a developed Africa. I have no doubt in my mind that we will get there some day.


My future plans


“I will be applying myself diligently to two key areas. First, is to work for good governance by promoting credible and transparent elections. This will bring about the strengthening of our institutions

and the enthronement of stability. I also believe that there is the urgent need to create jobs for our

teeming young population. This is another area that will be receiving my attention. I recall that the Vice President of your association made reference in his speech to my achievements in that regard through

what we called Youth Enterprises with Innovation (YouWin) and the Nagropreneur programme which encouraged young people to go into agriculture. I believe more programmes like that should be established to promote youth entrepreneurship. That way, we reduce their reliance on paid employment. We will not only teach them to become entrepreneurs, they will also acquire the capacity to employ other people. We will be paying special attention to this segment of our society, especially young people and women. We will develop programmes that will inculcate in them business skills to be able to set up micro, small and medium enterprises. We shall assist them to access take-off grants when they acquire the relevant skills and capacities. There are many areas that they can go into; food processing, light manufacturing and the services sector are just some of them. I can tell you from experience that this works. As we speak, Our Nagropreneur programme, to promote youth involvement in agriculture

value chain, is being scaled up by the African Development Bank presently. It is already being replicated in 19 African countries because of the success of the programme in Nigeria. I invite all of you here today, cabinet ministers, diplomats and private sector people to remain committed to the cause of improving lives, especially those lives in Africa, and making our world a better place. For those of you that will be sharing in this vision for Africa, I assure you that you will not be disappointed. I am very optimistic that if we encourage young men and women in this continent to develop businesses of their own, the story of Africa will change within 10 years”.
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30 comments

  1. You know a wise man by his words and actions. Oga Jona you are truely a great man. May God continue to be your strength and courage

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  2. Never mind, you will have all the time to explain at EFFCC how your inept government looted us blind.

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    Replies
    1. Your heart is as dark as coal you may not end up well if you don't change

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    2. Fulani, what is your problem?

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    3. Idiot....go and arrest him nah...

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    4. Please do not mind this blind Safari

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  3. God Bless This Man

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  4. Thank you Mr. president you are trully a leader and a father . God bless you .

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  5. Well articulated speech.

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  6. Enter your comment... I don't understand this man, pls the only reason why you conceded defeat was because u were beaten squarely, if u had won, u wouldn't have handed over. So stop teaching d younger generation negative things

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    1. Is like you don't know what you are saying! Beaten hands down? What happened with Prince Abubakar Audu in Kogi state would have happened to BUHARI had it been Jona rejected the outcome of that Elect. On the ground of gross irregularities (Number of registered voters in the pooling units that were cancelled across Nigeria were more than 2-million; the gap between GEJ and Buhari).
      Am very sure if it were you in the shoes of GEJ at that time, you wouldn't have concede defeat!
      Believe it or not, GEJ is a Hero!

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    2. In addition to this it is a well known fact that INEC registered a lot of under aged voters in the north. All these are gross irregularities. Many easterners ran away to the east but their vote where counted (Who then voted?)

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  7. Heartwarming, mellifluous and encouraging... What a wonderful speech!!! Not the kind of leader that will make the country "ungovernable"and make some elections"inconclusive". Well,as events are unfolding...

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  8. Oga Jona. Thank you for giving Nigeria hope of being one once again

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  9. God bless you! Most of us understand what was averted by conceding defeat, even though you have the Constitution right to reject the result. Posterity will judge you, and you will be adjudged selfless and courageous. You will always be in our prayers Mr. President because you made the right decision for the greater good.

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  10. Love and one Love. You will continue to be great.

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  11. what a great man you are my Mentor.

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  12. Bloody nonsense.Only in Africa where you will expect accolades for conceding an election you lost.Do you want a cookie for that? I now believe that we as a country deserve the leaders we elected,they are a reflection of the citizens they govern.We are just as corrupt as them in our everyday life.If we are not as corrupt as them,why would people be defending idiots like jonathan,obj,wike,ibb,tinubu etcAll this people plundered the resources of our great country.Some might benefit from this stolen wealth and thus their conscience has been muted,but pls be cognizant that,by and large,it will trickle down and your offspring will surely suffer the consequences as well.We should ask ourselves why only the rich people can contest and win an election in our country.It is an expensive expedition because our society is that of "what can you offer me " as opposed to what are the agendas you have for the country.To thi politicians,it is an investment when they spend astronomical amount to win an election.Don't you think they will want to recoup their investment when they finally win? My point exactly is that we are morally bankrupt in our country.For the first time in our great country,i feel we have elected our own version of mandela.He is going after all this thieves and yet,people are lamenting and using tribal sentiment to say he is only going after certain individuals,political party or tribes.Is dansuki not hausa? When all this people stole money,did they empower and enrich the community or tribes they came from? The truth of the matter is they stole the money for themselves and their family,not for their community,tribes or religious affliation.This can only benefit the masses and those without a voice.Buhari has set a precidence by going after this leech,if the other political parties felt he is witch hunting them,well it will get to their turn and they should return the favor.This favors the masses and now we have accountability.Let them witchhunt each other and that will deter them from massive looting that could have otherwise been earmarked for the development of our infracstructures,youth development and our health care development etc

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    1. My Broda which school you attend I want to attend that school too. You just reasoned along my line put down the my thoughts for me, but I have to disagree with you on one point, the area of him conceding to Buhari. You know he Jona was in power and he could have used all available resources at his disposal to remain in power and nothing would happen but innocent blood being sacrificed on the streets of Naija. To be candid I applaud him for that singular gesture... Have a good my Broda from a different parent.

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    2. Reply: The school of the blind

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  13. Ananymous 11:33 you are mixing things up here. Jona conceded defeat is good for me and you. Because this is why you are able to write this your grammer under cool environment otherwise may be we would have be in the war front for 2nd civil war. When abacha did his campaign we are all here when he order wepon from abroad. What was he going to do with those wepon? What is going on in syria today is because of power tussle. What happened to liberia during taylor era? Corruption aside we need to appreciate jona for saving us from another blood bath in nigeria. We know how many people died including our promising NYSC member just because Jona win Election 2011. These people are somebody brother,sister, sons and daughters.
    As for safari if you wish to invite jona for curruption charges is good to start from IBB to account for our 12 billion dollar he stole during his reign of terror. And abdusalam should come and acount for the money he stole from central bank of nigeria when gave power to civilian.
    Look we should not deceive ourself our leaders has not be good and sincere to us. The fight their political differencies in the physicaL and go back to the secret and unit to loot us dry. Is only this Bahari era I can see a different notwithstanding people that are still manipulating things underground. May God save us and save Nigeria. Amen

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  14. Thank you @ anonymous 2:30 pm

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  15. Thank you @ anonymous 2 :30 pm

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  16. Thank you @ anonymous 2:30 pm

    Indeed, some Nigerians are really disturbingly so backward in their manner/way of reasoning.

    Has anyone noticed that all the so-called organizations inviting GEJ for one thing or the other are independent and not in anyway connected to the Government of those Nations.

    This shows image laundering in another level. This is the strategy GEJ and his cohorts have resorted to since they can not deceive the Governments of developed Nations.

    May God complete the deliverance of Nigeria from utter backwardness in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.

    May the Lord continue to frustrate and reduce to oblivion all the known and secret enemies of Nigeria in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, Amen and Amen.

    May the Lord erase all the known and secret enemies of Nigeria like human fart in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, Amen and Amen.

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    Replies
    1. This is another blind man to be ignored for foolish posting

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  17. God bless Nigeria. God bless GEJ

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