Jonathan: I Will Surely Win the Election, But I’m Not Desperate

Sounding more confident, President Goodluck Jonathan affirmed that he would surely win the presidential election scheduled for next Saturday.
Also, the President said at a book launch in Abuja the same day that his quest to continue in office was not borne out of desperation.

In a related development, with seven days to the poll, Kevin, Charlyn and Kimberly Associates: a United Kingdom based research  and  political risk consultancy firm has projected that Jonathan will win the March 28 poll with a margin of 13 per cent probability ratings.

The President who spoke during an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation said categorically: “I’ll surely win.”

The presidential election is generally expected to be very close with Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) expected to give him a good fight, but Jonathan told the BBC he was confident of winning.

He also spoke on the Boko Haram insurgents, admitting that they were initially underrated by the government.

But now, he said they were getting weaker and all territories under their control would be retaken within a month.

“They are getting weaker and weaker by the day. I’m very hopeful that it will not take us more than a month to recover the old territories that hitherto have been in their hands,” said the President.

While admitting that the authorities had under-estimated the militants, he also reiterated that the military lacked the resources to fight them until now.

Jonathan said that newly acquired military equipment, as well as co-operation with neighbouring countries had helped to push the insurgents out.

On the Chibok girls, he said he was hopeful they are still alive and some of them may be at the Sambisa forest.

My Quest to Serve Not Out of Desperation…
Meanwhile, the President said at a book launch in Abuja that his quest to continue in office was not borne out of desperation.

Jonathan also noted that he had chosen not to be bothered about lot of negative things said or written about him.

The president spoke during a book launch titled, “The People’s Choice: The Story of President Goodluck Jonathan,” written by Rev. Fr. Charles Imokhai held at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa.

While speaking at the launch, Jonathan said: “My second message is to all of us, especially those of us who are politicians. For all of us who want to serve, we should be ready to serve but we should not be desperate to serve our people.

“Sometimes, people ask me ‘Mr. President, from what we read and what we see, we see you still smiling and unruffled.’ Yes, nothing will really ruffle me because I am willing and ready to serve but I am not desperate to serve. That is what keeps me going.

“All of us who want to hold offices from the least, a counselor of a ward or a chairman of a council, a member of the state House of Assembly or member of House of Representatives, Senate, Governor or the President, if all of us are always ready and willing to serve our people but not desperate in that our mission, then of course Nigeria will be a better place for all of us.”
Jonathan described the story of his life as that of humility as captured by the book.

He vowed to continue to implement programmes that would aid young people, as long as he remained president.

He noted that beneficiaries of his administration’s YouWin Programme would marvel the country in the next 10 to 15 years.

Jonathan equally expressed confidence that a product of the Almijiri schools established by his government would one day become the President of the country.

“My dream is that one day, a product of Almajiri school will stand here as a President of this country.

“That is why I have been very passionate about education and I use to tell people that I grew up from a very poor background. But luckily Nigeria is not a cast society, if I was to be an Indian, I probably wouldn’t even dream of being a commissioner in my state.

“This is because in a cast society, some people permanently belong to a lower class but Nigeria is an open society. So, you can move from the lowest level to the top but for you to do that one key thing  is education and that is why I lay so much emphasis on education.

“That was why when I came here, I decided that every state must have a federal university,” Jonathan said.

On the money realised from the launch, the president said it  was neither going to his pocket nor that of the Peoples Democratic Party.

He said the organisers planned to set up a foundation and use the proceeds to embark on projects that would impact positively on the country and its citizens.

He however said that further details on the projects had not been made known.
Former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (retd.), who acted as the chairman of the book launch said he stood in for Ambassador Yusuff Maitama Sule, who he said had to travel back to Kano to attend to his ailing wife.

He used the opportunity to clear the air on the agreement he reached with the former Biafran leader, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, that was later known as the Aburi Accord.

He explained that Odumegwu-Ojukwu made a statement that was contrary to what they discussed at the venue of the accord.

According to Gowon, Ojukwu was able to accomplish that task because he (Gowon) was down with fever when Odumegwu-Ojukwu returned to make the statement.

“I have seen that you (the author) have gone back in history in your research when Ojukwu and myself had the Aburi Accord.

“I was fascinated by that because I can assure you that that meeting was to break the ice and for all of us allow the military leaders at the time to be able and to agree to be discussing our problems in Nigeria and to solve them.
He added: “I hope all of you here will do the right thing and vote for the people’s choice.”

The author said he wrote the book to encourage the President to continue with his good works.

The Chief Launcher, Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu, announced a donation of N25 million and another N26 millio on behalf of his friends.

Rabiu also announced a donation of N20 millio on behalf of the co-launcher, Chief Cletus Ibeto, who was said to be abroad at the time of the launch.

Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State bought some copies of the book for members of the state executive council for N20 million and bought a copy each for all state governors for N10 million.

The National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, also bought copies of the book for N10 millio while the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, bought on behalf of women for N5 million.

One Alhaja Hauwa Lawal bought copies for N10 million; Mr. Tunde Ayeni bought for N10 million; Mr. Kola Adesina bought for N12 million and Charles Momoh bought for N5 million.