About 19 days to the end of his administration, President Goodluck Jonathan has said he expects his ministers and aides to be “persecuted” after he leaves office.
Jonathan also said he is leaving office a fulfilled man, stating that he is willing to give his life for the greatness of Nigeria.
Speaking on Sunday at a thanksgiving service organised in his honour at the Anglican Church, Life Camp, Abuja, the president said the country had given him a lot from his primary school days to the present as he exits office May 29.
Thanking the country and his home state, Bayelsa, for the opportunities he has been given to serve, the president said not many people in his generation has been as fortunate as he has been in his political career.
According to him, if soldiers and police officers who do not earn close to him die while protecting him and other Nigerians, it won’t be too much if he also sacrifices all he has including his life for the country.
“When I look at the whole picture of my life up to when I became the president of this country, and I say that if soldiers and police officers that have not received 0.5 percent of the benefits that I have received from the state can lay their lives for this country, I should do anything in the interest of Nigeria including paying the supreme price.
“As long as I live, I will continue to do my best for the state because the state has helped me as a person.
“I have to thank Nigerians especially my state for giving me the opportunity to serve as deputy governor and the whole country gave me the opportunity to serve as vice president and then president. First was to complete the tenure of the late president and later serve as president from which I am exiting now as a very happy and fulfilled man,” Jonathan said.
The president said before he was able to clean up the country’s electoral process and achieve other reforms, he had to take certain hard decisions which may have caused him his re-election.
Jonathan speaking of things to happen when he leaves office said it is most likely that his ministers and aides will be persecuted.
He recalled the story of the last ruler of apartheid South Africa who was divorced by his wife for accepting to abolish minority rule in the country, jokingly adding that he hopes his wife will not also divorce him for accepting defeat in the last presidential election.
The first lady, Patience Jonathan, who had finally made a public appearance since her husband lost the election, replied with a resounding “Nooooo” which evoked applause from the worshippers.
“I believe there are reasons for everything. Some hard decisions have their own cost, no doubt about that. I have ran the government this way that stabilised certain things, the electoral process and other things that brought stability into this country. They were very costly decisions which I myself must be ready to pay for. Some people come to me and say this or that person is not your friend. Is it not your government that this person benefitted from? But this is what the person is saying. But I used to say worse statements will come. If you take certain decisions, you should know that those close to you will even abandon you at some point. And I tell them that more of my so-called friends will disappear. When FW De Clerk took the decision to abolish minority rule in South Africa even his wife divorced him. I hope my wife will not divorce me. But that is the only decision that has made South Africa to still remain a global player by this time.”
