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Former President Goodluck Jonathan has opened up on how he felt being the first incumbent Nigerian President to lose re-election.
The former President, who ran as the candidate of the then-ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, polled lost to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 general elections, described the period as the toughest in his political life.
He said it felt like the whole world was against him.
Jonathan spoke in Abuja on Friday at the 1st Raymond Dokpesi Annual Diamond Lecture organised by the management of Daar Communications, in collaboration with the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, NIPR
Jonathan, who ran on the platform of PDP, polled 12,853,162 million votes to place second behind his main challenger, Major General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who won the election with 15,424,921 million votes.
‘What I went through…’
A relaxed Jonathan revealed that he passed through inexplicable emotional turmoil. He described feeling abandoned.
The ex-President recalled the fatherly role played by the late Chairman of Daar Communications, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, who stood by him all through his ordeal.
Jonathan said: “It is not easy to lose an election as a president. You will think the whole world is against you.
“But then, Dokpesi invited me before I handed over. I remember what he said to me when I lost the election.
“There were so many senior Nigerians (elder statesmen) who spoke. After I listened to all the conversations, he congratulated me and encouraged me to look beyond the election.
“This is how I commemorated that session.
“That communication gave me hope and helped me, not necessarily for the transition hour ahead of me, but also in my spiritual life as a private citizen.
“If you read my book, ‘My Transition Hours’, I explained it more elaborately.”
Tributes
Earlier in his remarks, the Minister of Information, Idris Mohammed, paid glowing tributes to the late Dokpesi and enjoined Nigerians to cherish the freedom of speech they currently enjoy.
Mohammed said: “Our respect for freedom of speech is sacrosanct even as we continue to urge responsibility in the exercise of this freedom. Nigerians are free to speak about this dear country of ours.
“What we can and will continue to do is to avoid getting to the point where reckless negativity becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts.
“We will be making a grievous error individually and collectively if we choose to focus only on what is not working and not balance it with equal attention to the things we are getting right.
“And we are getting a lot of things right as a nation even in our present circumstances.
“The media has an important role to play in strengthening this balanced approach through your reportage as shepherds and drivers of public opinions.
“The late Dokpesì has played his part, and he did it in a way that he would never be forgotten,” he stated.
Dokpesi
Dokpesi died on May 29, 2023. He was 71 years old.
Group Managing Director of DAAR Communications, Tony Akiotu, revealed that the late Chief Executive took ill a few weeks before his demise.
He also confirmed the news that the late Dokpesi died after falling off his treadmill during a routine exercise in his gym on the morning he passed on.
Family members, friends and colleagues of the late media mogul attended the event.
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