I WILL HANDOVER AND HAPPILY GO HOME IF I LOSE THIS ELECTION – PRESIDENT JONATHAN

President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday assured Nigerians and the world at large that he would inaugurate the next president if he lost the 2015 presidential election. Jonathan, who gave the assurance at a media chat in Abuja, dismissed the insinuation in some quarters that he would not hand over to the winner of the election, come May 29.

He stated that those making the allusion in the media, particularly the social media, were not being fair to him. He said: “In 2011, I said that I will conduct free and fair elections and if I lose I will happily go home and it should be recorded. “As of that time, no African sitting president had lost an election, but within this period a number of African sitting presidents had lost elections.

 “But I said that I wanted to create history to be the first African president that will lose election. “But let the world know that the election was free and fair. “Then, I just concluded the late president’s tenure. “I was just a president for about a year, acting for some months then. “But I said that I will be happy to go home. “That this nation is more important than any human being and I still maintain. 

“Anybody who wants to hold this office of the president or any office at all and feels that he is more important than the nation, then he it is not quite right. “So, if as of that time I said that I was ready to conduct a free and fair election and if I lose I will go, not to talk about now that Nigerians had given me the opportunity to be here for four full years. “So if the elections are conducted and I lose, of course I will inaugurate a new government. “There is no way I say if I lose I will not hand over.” 

The President said a lot of misinformation was being circulated in the social media about the 2015 elections and urged Nigerians to shun such propaganda for the progress of the country. Jonathan reassured Nigerians and the international community that the 2015 general elections would be conducted as planned by the Independent National Electoral Commission. 

On the ongoing fight against Boko Haram, the President disclosed that the Multi National Joint Task Force, including the Nigerian military, had intensified efforts to liberate all areas captured by the insurgents. He said the Nigerian Army had taken delivery of new military hardware that would help it in its crusade against the insurgents. He also expressed the hope that with the renewed fight against the militants, the Chibok girls might soon be rescued.