NewsRescue
Nigeria’s outgoing president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has explained to African leaders why he immediately abound by the law and conceded to the victor of the March 28th presidential elections, General Muhammadu Buhari.
President Jonathan said he obeyed the law and accepted being defeated with the over 2 million votes (after all rigging by his ruling party and military influence over the entire process) because he wanted to keep his oath to Nigerians not to contest in that election and also because he did not want to rather unleash terror on the nation.
President Jonathan had vowed in 2010 while campaigning for his first term that if elected he will not seek re-election. On this premise he solicited Nigerians’ votes. Having already violated this oath he used to solicit votes and realizing he had defrauded Nigerians he explained he decided to quickly accept the defeat rather than unleash terror on the nation and end up destroying more lives especially in his Otueke village (in which vicinity dozens have already died from Cholera due to a lack of potable water).
Well we wish this was what he said, but he said something rather different. He said he decided not to take the route of hooliganism, violation of the law and unleashing terror on the nation and rather concede to “protect the nation” from more harm from him. Here are his words from his press release as written in PremiumTimes:
President Goodluck Jonathan has defended his decision to concede defeat to Muhammadu Buhari in the March 28 election, saying he was concerned about allowing his personal ambition scuttle a democratic system he helped nurtured, with the likely consequence of a “collective tragedy”.
Mr. Jonathan said Thursday that he needed to check his ambition, as the consequences of not doing so may have been dire not only for Nigeria, but Africa.
The president made the remarks during separate meetings with the new ambassadors of France, Senegal and Ethiopia. He was responding to commendations for his decision to promptly accept defeat after it became clear Mr. Buhari had won the polls.
“Democracy has to be nurtured to grow. Strong democratic institutions are the backbone and future of our democracy. They must be protected and nurtured. As for me, as a matter of principle, it is always the nation first,” Mr. Jonathan said.
“You need to have a nation before you can have an ambition. It should always be the nation first. You don’t have to scuttle national progress for personal ambition.
“Since I assumed duty, I have been involved in quelling political crisis in some African countries and I know what they passed through and what some are still going through. If you scuttle a system for personal ambition, it becomes a collective tragedy,’’ President Jonathan declared.
