Former President Goodluck Jonathan has kept silence over alleged monumental corruption against his government officials. He opened up recently to journalists in Geneva. Read…

“In Nigeria, other people see us as being very religious. This is because we truly believe that human beings, either by creation or evolution, are made for different purposes. That is why people are in different professions and different callings.

The thing I believe is that I did not go into politics because of what I stood to gain as an individual. I went into politics because I see it as a responsibility to serve and to help my society grow. My reason for going into politics may be different from that of other politicians. I also believe that it takes the sacrifice of individuals to build a society.

Most of these societies that are very well developed were built by the sacrifices of individuals. Some people even died in the process of defending their people and fighting for their wellbeing.

As African leaders we must now be ready to set standards so that other people would begin to emulate us. In Nigeria it is almost taken for a given that anybody who contests for any office would always go to the tribunal to challenge an outcome that doesn’t favour him.

What that suggests is that nobody loses election in Nigeria. That tradition must also change. As a sitting President, I presided over an election in which I contested but lost.

INEC is an independent body but you and I know that the activity of any agency is under the supervision of a President. Some people were telling me to go to the tribunal or even stop the elections, citing cases of irregularities. But I rebuffed such advice. If INEC that was under me, and assuming the officials allowed cheating during elections as was claimed, why will I go to the tribunal to complain? If I did that I would not be setting the right example. It would then mean that all I suffered to build would come to nothing.

The point I am making is that people should always be prepared to make sacrifices for the sake of their country. We need to evolve that culture and imbibe it in our consciousness that we don’t have to go to court each time we lose elections.

Let me tell you a story that will shock you. When the results of the elections were declared and I got almost 13 million votes while the incumbent president won with over 15 million votes, I recall one African leader telling me that if I decided to leave office, it would only be because I must already be tired of remaining in office.

The implication of that statement was that many other leaders in my position would have stayed put, but that is just not me. My place in governance was to do my best and quit and not to sit tight and destroy everything I had built.

I believe that sometimes one will have to make that kind of sacrifice in the interest of his people and nation that God had graciously allowed you to lead”.