Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the immediate past president of Nigeria, has said he will never contest for the country’s presidential race again.
According to reports, Jonathan said he would be diminishing himself if he should decide to begin to lobby people and campaign for the presidential election again,.
Th Bayelsa-born politician disclosed this in an interview published in a book, ‘My Time As Chaplain In Aso Rock,” presented to the public on Tuesday, December 6.
The book written by Nathaniel Bivan contains the accounts of the Chaplain of the Aso Rock Villa Chapel during the Jonathan administration, Obioma Onwuzurumba. “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 said.
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Before the conduct of the presidential primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), there were strong speculations that the ruling party’s ticket would be given to Jonathan.
Some said President Muhammadu Buhari wanted the ex-president to succeed him while others claimed that some northern stakeholders wanted the former Bayelsa governor so that power could return to the north in 2027. A group even went as far as procuring the N100 million APC form for Jonathan.
But speaking on the development, Jonathan said he enjoyed the drama that characterised the rumour of his alleged move to pick the APC presidential ticket.
“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,” he said.
He added that the only roles acceptable to him now involve stabilising democracy in troubled African states.
