Former Nigerian President Dr Goodluck Jonathan has opened up about the tense and uncertain period he experienced while serving as Vice President during the presidency of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, particularly during the latter’s protracted illness.
Speaking in an interview with the Rainbow Book Club about his memoir My Transition Hours, Dr Jonathan detailed the political storm that brewed as the late President Yar’Adua battled ill health, and the deep divisions it exposed in Nigeria’s political and regional landscape.
According to the former leader, there were covert efforts to oust him from the Presidential Villa by elements opposed to the South assuming the presidency. He cited growing conspiracy theories and alleged attempts to frustrate his tenure, driven by the sensitive North-South, Christian-Muslim political divide in the country at the time.
“The country was very tense. Every day I was hearing about a coup,” Jonathan recalled.
He revealed that while Yar’Adua was abroad receiving medical treatment, close associates expressed concern for his safety and urged him to vacate the Presidential Villa temporarily.
“I remember one day, I was still Vice President, they had not even moved the Doctrine of Necessity and some of my friends came and said, ‘No, you don’t have to sleep here. You have to come and sleep in my guest house’,” he recounted.
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However, Jonathan said he firmly rejected the advice, opting instead to remain at the Villa despite the risks.
“I said, ‘No.’ I will stay in the State House. If anybody wants to kill me, it’s better you kill me in the State House so Nigerians will know that they assassinated me in the State House. They know I have not committed any offence.”
Jonathan’s comments shed new light on the high-stakes political climate of the time, which culminated in the National Assembly invoking the ‘Doctrine of Necessity’ in February 2010 to formally empower him as Acting President.
Yar’Adua passed away in May 2010, after which Jonathan assumed the presidency in full capacity and went on to win the 2011 general election.
His reflections underscore the fragile nature of Nigeria’s democracy during transitional periods and the personal resolve required to navigate the storm.
