I’ll be diminishing myself by contesting presidency again – Jonathan

Jonathan lost the support of many of the PDP leaders in 2015 which eventually led to his defeat and the loss of the Presidency to the then opposition APC.

By Jeffrey Agbo

Former President Goodluck Jonathan says he would never contest Nigeria’s Presidency again, noting that doing so would “diminish” him.

Jonathan stated this in an interview published in a book, ‘My Time As Chaplain In Aso Rock,” presented to the public on Tuesday.

The book written by Nathaniel Bivan contains the accounts of the Chaplain of the Aso Rock Villa Chapel during the Jonathan administration, Obioma Onwuzurumba.

Jonathan lost the support of many of the PDP leaders in 2015 which eventually led to his defeat and the loss of the Presidency to the then opposition APC.

Jonathan said he enjoyed the drama that characterised the rumour earlier in the year that he had purchased a nomination form of the All Progressives Congress to enable him to contest for the party’s presidential ticket.

Ahead of the June 2022 APC presidential primary, a group, Nomadic Pastoralists and Almajirai Community, led by Ibrahim Abdullahi, purchased the N100m nomination and expression of interest forms in Jonathan’s name.

Speaking on the controversy that trailed the group’s decision, Jonathan 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.

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“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 added that the only roles acceptable to him now involve stabilising democracy in troubled African states.

Jonathan argued that the APC’s same-faith ticket would eventually lead to a lapse in the representation of Nigeria’s religious diversity.