The Immediate past President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has made it clear that no one outside or inside his government influenced him to concede defeat in the 2015 Presidential election even before the counting of the votes across the country was completed.
Jonathan, who contested the election as an incumbent under the umbrella of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, explained that his decision to concede defeat was borne out of his personal principles.
Speaking at Bingham University in Nasarawa State, where he and another former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, were conferred with honorary doctorate degrees, he said: “it is my belief that no one’s political ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian. And I am fulfilled knowing that my conceding while the votes were still being compiled, which was born out of my personal principles and convictions, is generating positive impact in other nations. Let me make it clear, that I was not persuaded to do so by anyone within or outside the country. I know it was the right thing to do.
“My mantra ‘my ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian’ is my vow. It was not just a political slogan. One of the reason I convened the 2014 National Conference was to come up with a polity devoid of tension and crisis. (I wanted) a united country; a polity in which we are not divided along tribal, ethnic or religious lines.” [myad]
