Former President Goodluck Jonathan, on Friday, relieved the experience of losing the 2015 presidential election which he described as a tough moment in his political life.
Jonathan also expressed the fatherly role played by the chairman of Daar Communications, Raymond Dokpesi, before he officially handed over to former President Muhammadu Buhari.
He disclosed this in Abuja during the first Raymond Dokpesi Annual Diamond Lecture organised by the management of Daar Communications in collaboration with the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations.
Jonathan, who ran on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was defeated in the 2015 election by Buhari, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Jonathan said, “It is not easy to lose an election as a president. You will think the whole world is against you. But then, Dokpesi invited me before I handed it over. I remember what he said to me when I lost the election.
“There were so many senior Nigerians (elder statesmen) who spoke. After I listened to all the conversations, he congratulated me and encouraged me to look beyond the election. This is how I commemorated that session.
“That communication gave me hope and helped me not necessarily for the transition hour ahead of me but also in my spiritual life as a private citizen. If you read my book, My Transition Hours, I explained it more elaborately”.
Earlier in his address, the Minister of Information, Idris Mohammed, urged Nigerians not to abuse the freedom of speech they are enjoying.
“Our respect for freedom of speech is sacrosanct even as we continue to urge responsibility in the exercise of this freedom. Nigerians are free to speak about this dear country of ours. What we can and will continue to do is to avoid getting to the point where reckless negativity becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts”, Mohammed stated.
