Goodluck Jonathan: I forgive those who conspired against me in 2015

Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday said he was wrongly judged by some of his friends and political opponents before the 2015 presidential election because of his personal convictions and the vision he had for the country.

 

He, however, insisted that he does not hold any grudge against his detractors for their harsh criticisms.

 

Speaking in Abuja during the public presentation of a book ‘Dear President Goodluck Jonathan’ written in his honour by Bonaventure Melah, a former Managing Editor of Daily Times, Jonathan said he was judged unfavourably by political leaders who wanted to take power at all cost.

 

He said much of the criticisms he faced were because of his deep interest in education which was perceived by his political enemies as misplaced at the time.

 

Jonathan said, “The best way to assess a leader is to look at the philosophy behind his leadership.

 

“For elected people, political parties are supposed to have ideologies but even within that persuasion, leaders must have their individual visions.

 

“I always don’t think about leadership at the level of a President or Governor based on infrastructure alone. Anybody who has money and is not a big thief would definitely provide that for the people.

 

“Apart from that, how else do you assess a leader, his thinking, his vision for leadership?

 

“My interest was to change the society through education. No matter what we do to elevate Nigeria without education, the society would find it difficult to change. That was my personal view.

 

“That was also why I intervened in the almajirai case. We needed to elevate them above that level, because of the many social problems they were causing.

 

“I strongly believe that if there must be a change in Nigeria, we must be competent scientifically and technologically, because technology rules the world today,” he explained.

 

On the controversial sack of some top functionaries in his administration, Jonathan said: “When a president or a governor sacks a person. Sometimes, what society thinks could be the reason for that decision may be very different from the reality.

 

“There were insinuations that I sacked Ihejirika because of pressures from the North. Far from it! If somebody is doing the right thing, even if you want to split my head, I would not sack the person.

 

“When my close political allies, advised me to sacrifice Arunma Oteh so that I don’t have problems with the House of Representatives. I said I won’t sacrifice any Nigerian just for me to be in the good books of the lawmakers. Rather, I won’t sacrifice myself. I took that decision because I was convinced she was not corrupt. If I had sacked her undeservedly that may have been the end of her career with the World Bank.”

 

The former President further regretted that he and some members of his cabinet was wrongly tagged corrupt at the dawn of the current administration.

 

He, however, noted that such perceptions about him was gradually changing for the better.

 

 

 

“That is the problem myself and some members of my cabinet are still suffering since the beginning of this administration when we were all tagged corrupt people. But I thank God that people can come together to celebrate me today. It is God. Otherwise, I would have been completely buried politically.”