Jonathan Replies Atiku, Says: “I Was Not Naive, Didn’t Need To Be 100 Years For Presidential Seat”

By Adesina Soyooye 

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has responded to the unprovoked jab thrown at him by former Vice President and perennial Presidential Aspirant, Atiku Abubakar.

Recall that Atiku, had, in an interview with Arise Television, described Dr. Jonathan as inexperienced and attributed Jonathan’s alleged challenges and mistakes as President to that. 

Atiku: “I know Jonathan very well. He is a decent young man, but also inexperienced and I believe that contributed to his inability to manage the affairs of the country, particularly, when he was faced with challenges.”

In what has been described as one of Atiku’s worst public outings in recent times, probably made in a bid to project himself as the best of all the Presidential Aspirants in the African Democratic Congress, ADC, he did not, also, spare the likes of Peter Obi, a  former two-term Governor and Labour Party’s 2023 Presidential Candidate, Aminu Tambuwal, two- term Governor and a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, as well as Rotimi Amaechi, two- term Speaker of House of Assembly, two- term Governor and two-term Minister of Transportation, Rabiu Kwankwaso, two- term Governor, former Minister of  Defence and former Presidential Candidate.

Not a few Nigerians have expressed surprise at Atiku’s choice of words and language. 

Dr Reuben Abati, Arise Television’s Anchor, accomplished columnist, and former Presidential Adviser to Jonathan, has since dismissed Atiku as rude and arrogant. Abati, also, reminded Atiku that while he has, for years, been aspiring to be President, Jonathan had already been President of Nigeria, an office Atiku has still not occupied.

But in a decent and dignified response to Atiku,  Jonathan, while speaking in Abuja at the 2025 Association of Retired Career Ambassadors of Nigeria’s Awards Ceremony, told Atiku that he did his best as President, and added that there is no President or Governor, no human being anywhere in the world, that does not make one mistake or the other. He also mounted a robust defence of his records.

Jonathan: “So not too long ago, a very senior politician said, ‘Oh, Jonathan was too young and probably that’s why he made mistakes.’

“If I made mistakes, yes, nobody who becomes a Governor or a President will say you did not make mistakes. Even when you promote yourself to the level of a god, you become a deity.

“All human beings must make mistakes. I became president in 2010 at the age of 53. I left in 2015 at the age of 58, and they say I was too young. Must it have been 100 years before I ran the affairs of the state?”

And defending  his decisions in office, he noted that while mistakes are inevitable, he did his best.

Jonathan pointed at Nigeria’s diplomatic achievements under his Government, especially, its election to the United Nations Security Council.

He said: “I’m talking to Diplomats, so I can say that during my period, I knew what I did for us to appear in the UN Security Council two times. If I were so naive, I don’t think I would have been able to navigate through that process.”

For the records, while Jonathan had been a Deputy Governor, Governor, Vice President, Acting President, President, and presently, a very respected World Citizen, Atiku, politically, has only been a Vice President and a perennial Presidential Candidate.