Former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan has revealed why he cannot contest for the presidency again in the country.
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The elder statesman noted that contesting for the office of the president would be diminishing himself as he can not begin to lobby people and run for campaign.
Jonathan revealed this in an interview published in a book, ‘My Time As Chaplain In Aso Rock,” presented to the public on Tuesday.
The book which was written by Nathaniel Bivan contains the accounts of the Chaplain of the Aso Rock Villa Chapel during the Jonathan administration, Obioma Onwuzurumba.
Jonathan in the interview said, “If you wake up tomorrow and see that I am President again, that means there may have been circumstances beyond my control. But not to go and pick one form and go and start lobbying people and running for campaigns; I can’t do that again. If I do that, I will diminish myself.”
The former president also disclosed that he enjoyed the drama that followed the rumour that he had purchased the nomination form of the All Progressives Congress (APC)
Recall that a group identified as Nomadic Pastoralists and Almajirai Community, led by Ibrahim Abdullahi purchased N100 million nomination and expression of interest forms for Jonathan.
Jonathan speaking on the rumour said, “I was enjoying the drama. At least they are not insulting me. After all, I was pursued out of the office that I was not good enough. So, if now, Nigerians are saying, ‘Oh, this man should come,’ that means they are cleaning me up. So, let me enjoy the drama.
“I was not disturbed. I know I cannot go and start struggling to be President again. It wasn’t only Nigerians who were asking me such questions, even most of the top ambassadors -the American ambassador, the UK High Commissioner, France, and all of them. They came to ask me whether I would contest. I don’t think I would contest any election.
“If you wake up tomorrow and see that I’m President again, that means there may have been circumstances beyond my control. But not to go and pick one form and go and start lobbying people and running for campaigns, be it PDP power or APC broom and moving across Nigeria. I can’t do that again; if I do that, I will diminish myself.”
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He noted that he is only interested in stabilising democracy in troubled African states.
Jonathan added, “Assuming there’s some confusion, and sometimes things like that happen in countries. So, they tell me to come and play a role in stabilising things; a stable democracy where one leader hands over to another is what we all want.
“Let us go through that process and not interrupt the democratic processes. We pray such things should not happen. Otherwise, to go and say I’m contesting on the platform of any party at all. No!”
