Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Tuesday gave the reason why he was defeated by President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 presidential election
He said that the selfish ambitions of some governors in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who later defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC, was one of the reasons he lost his re-election bid.
Jonathan disclosed this in his book titled: “My Transition Hours”, which was launched today in Abuja.
Premium Times alleged that Jonathan’s handlers shielded the book from the press but were lucky to have perused few chapters in the book.
Read parts of the write-up
“This time around, there were governors who were rounding off their eight years tenure and were blinded by ambition,” he wrote about his re-election bid in 2015 having been overwhelmingly voted for in the 2011 election.
“Some governors wanted to be Vice President whilst others strived to be the President. If I contested none could realise his ambition. This muffled implosion would fully manifest in the buildup to the 2015, which each ship-jumper calculating how much he or she would take from the PDP or the most opportune moment to cause maximum damage and based on that, plot their exit.
“As they jumped ship in preparation for the 2015 elections, only very few of this lots, if any at all, bothered about what the PDP did or did not do in terms of delivering our campaign promises. Their opposition to my re-election was principally driven by personal ambition. They therefore played up the issue of where I come from and the faith, I professed to fuel their burning ambition. My performance mattered quite little, if it mattered at all.
“In spite of the threats and provocations to make the country ‘ungovernable’ for me, I had the overwhelming support of Nigerians in the run-up to the presidential election in 2011. I was able to win the election to the grace of God and the love of Nigerians. The election was all but won even before the whistle was blown for some strong factors. To mention a few, the pressure to preclude me from contesting in 2011, met with solid indignation from majority of Nigerians.
“Many reasons make the onslaught in this context very suspect especially as it was being managed by foreign experts mostly from the United States.
“Throughout my tenure in office as President, there was constant barrage of what Donald Trump has now termed ‘fake news’ coming from a well-oiled media propaganda machine. I can say as a matter of fact that were never any snipers in training or already trained. There were no lists of political enemies to be taken out.
“There was no missing $49.8 billion and more importantly I can say that even those who made these and other allegations knew that they were false. This probably explains why many of these allegations died a natural death even as the echoes of my retreating footsteps still resounded nationally and globally,”
