Tobias Sylvester
Former President, Goodluck Jonathan said he was condemned by many Nigerians due to the corruption allegations levelled against him, but God saved him from political death.
Jonathan stated this at the presentation of “Dear President Goodluck Jonathan”, a book written in his honour by Bonaventure Melah, a former managing editor of Daily Times on Tuesday.
According him, some officials of the current administration tagged him and some members of his former cabinet as corrupt, an allegation that could have sent him into political oblivion.
He gave thanks to God that the wrong perception about him is gradually changing.
“That is the problem myself and some members of my cabinet are still suffering since the beginning this administration when we were all tagged corrupt people,” he said.
“But I thank God that people can come together to celebrate me today. It is God. Otherwise, I would have been completely buried (politically).”
On the controversial sack of some top functionaries in his administration, Jonathan said dispelled rumour that he fired Azubuike Ihejirika as chief of army staff “because of pressures from the North.”
“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,” he said.
“There were insinuations that I sacked Ihejirika because of pressures from the North. Far from it! If somebody is going the right thing, even if you want to split my head, I would not sack the person.
He also revealed why he refused to sack Aruma Oteh as the director-general of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2012, after she was accused of soliciting N44 million bribe from SEC.
“When my close political allies, advised me to sacrifice Arunma Oteh so that I don’t have problems with the House of Representatives,” he said.
“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.”
Jonathan said much of the criticisms he faced during his administration were because of his deep interest in education which was perceived by his political enemies as misplaced at the time.
KanyiDaily recalls that Shagari Aminu, the son of an ex-president, Late Shehu Shagari, had publicly asked Jonathan for forgiveness over the role he played in 2015 presidential election that saw him defeated by President Muhammadu Buhari.
