President Goodluck Jonathan assured Wednesday he will hand over power May 29 if he loses the forthcoming presidential polls billed for March 28.
The President, in a live media chat apparently organised to douse the tension generated by the postponement of the general elections, also denied plot to sack Prof. Attahiru Jega, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); and spoke of efforts at tackling insurgency; and corruption.
He pleaded with Nigerians for some time to round up the programme adding that his main preoccupation was to conduct a free, fair and credible general election in March and April this year.
Jonathan noted that just like in 2011 when he expressed similar sentiment, he would gladly go home if he fails to secure the mandate of the people for a second tenure, saying that no politician’s ambition was more important than the interest of the country.
According to him, if he was ready to handover in 2011 if he was not voted into power, he would do the same in 2015 if he is not re-elected.
He said: “If 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 that as at that time, no African sitting president had lost an election, but within this period, a number of African sitting presidents have lost election.
“But I wanted to create history of being the first African sitting president that lost election but let the world know that it was free and fair. Then, I just concluded the late president’s term, I was the president for about a year, acting for some months but I said I would be happy to go, that this nation is more important than any human being.
“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, that is not quite right.
“So, if as at that time I insisted that I was ready to conduct free and fair election and if I lose I will go not to talk about now Nigerians have given me the opportunity to be here for four full years.
“So, if the elections are conducted and I lose, of course, we will inaugurate a new government, there is no way I will say if I lose I will not hand over.”
The president assured that the election would hold and a new government would be inaugurated May 29. He urged people should to disregard the rumour of the impending removal of the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega.
Jonathan stated that the action of those who say that Jega would be sent on terminal leave and another person appointed in his place to conduct election was meant to deceive the public.
He said even though INEC chairman and commissioners were his appointees, he had not told anybody that he would remove Jega, saying that people were using the suspension of the elections to misinform Nigerians.
Responding to the question, Jonathan said “How I wish Jega were here. I could have asked him to answer that question. One thing about politics or leadership generally is that when you are a leader, you have your members who support you but what they do or say.
“Maybe somebody has been making statements to advance your cause, the assumption is that the person is close to you and he is a fan. There are too many messages that go out and sometimes I call people. More than 80 percent of people sponsoring these messages I don’t even know. So, whatever that person says is different from Jonathan.
“And if you ask Jega, he will tell you I appointed all the commissioners and resident electoral commissioners in INEC. They are my appointees. So, if I feel that Jega is not good enough for obvious reasons, then I can by that provision of the constitution that gives the person who appoints him the power to remove him. I have not told anybody that I am going to remove Jega.
“Some of these things are creations by people who want to cause confusion. A lot of people are using the rescheduling of the elections to misinform Nigerians.”
The president also revealed that even though the National Council of State discussed the issue of election postponement, government did not put pressure on the electoral body to shift the polls
However, he added that the commission took into consideration security advice because it had to work with the security forces for a successful implementation of the elections.
He explained that the postponement of the election ought not to be a vexatious issue but the nature of Nigerian politics had given it a different coloration.
The president observed that INEC was not fully ready for the conduct of the election on February 14 because of the challenges it faced in the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
On the fate of the Chibok girls, he assured that with the equipment recently acquired by the military and cooperation of the international communities, they would soon breathe the air of freedom.
The President said the Boko Haram sect would be flushed out in a few weeks as a joint force between Nigeria and its neighbours has been raised to comb the nook and cranny of the troubled north eastern states and reclaim them.