Olusegun Ariyo
Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has narrated how he endured tension in the Presidential Villa when he was serving as Vice President.
Jonathan, who spoke in an interview with the Rainbow Book Club about his memoir ‘My Transition Hours’, recounted what transpired between him and some northerners when his former boss, Umar Yar’Adua, was battling ill health.
He alleged that there were conspiracies aimed at booting him out of the Villa in a bid to deny the South the opportunity to succeed Yar’Adua.
According to the former Nigerian leader, the country was at that time, tense following the “North-South, Christian-Muslim divide”. “Every day I was hearing about a coup”, he noted.
He revealed that sometime when Yar’Adua was out of the country following his deteriorating health condition, he was advised by some friends to vacate the Presidential Villa for his safety.
Jonathan said he turned down the advice and decided to stay back in the Presidential Villa, not minding what may happen to him.
“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 guesthouse.
“I said, ‘No.’ I will stay in the State House. If anybody wants to kill me, you should 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,” he said.
