Why I didn’t respect agreement to serve one term in office – Goodluck Jonathan

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has provided reasons why he backed out of an initial agreement to rule Nigeria for only one term.

This revelation followed details that have emerged recently on why the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, lost the 2015 presidential election.

The fresh details is courtesy of a book “Against the Run of play: How an incumbent President was defeated in Nigeria,” written by Segun Adeniyi, Chairman, ThisDay Board of Editors.

Jonathan admitted that there was indeed a gentleman’s agreement that he was going to do just one term and leave office but had to change his mind because “… You can make a political promise and change your mind, so long as it is within the law.”

The book was formally presented to the public, in Lagos on Friday 28 April 2017.

The ex-President added, “I had made a proposition for a single term of seven years.

“That was the context in which I spoke in Addis Ababa that if the idea was accepted, I would not run again.

“It was not in the context of a second term of four years.

“Of course, at that period, the issue of one term was brought several times at different meetings and some people took it upon themselves to pledge on my behalf but I never said I was going to spend only one term… the question was always usually randomly asked and I never made any such commitment to anybody.”

#jonathan