Former President Goodluck Jonathan has revealed that he was advised to leave the presidential villa for his safety during late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s illness.
Jonathan made this known in an interview with the Rainbow Book Club about his memoir, My Transition Hours. He said rumours of a possible coup d’etat led some friends to urge him to vacate his official residence as vice president.
“I said, ‘No. I will stay in the state house. If anybody wants to kill me, they should kill me there so Nigerians will know I was assassinated in the state house. They know I have not committed any offence.
“If I go and stay in your guest house and people kill me there, they will say Indian girls brought apples to kill me. I wouldn’t want that kind of story,” he said.
Jonathan noted that despite the intense tension and coup fears, he remained calm and unbothered.
He also revealed that Yar’Adua signed a letter authorising him to act as president, but a key aide withheld the document from the National Assembly.
He described the period as turbulent, with ethnic and religious tensions and a constitutional crisis threatening Nigeria’s democracy.
Jonathan explained that after Yar’Adua succeeded Obasanjo, there was an informal understanding for the presidency to remain in the north for eight years. Yar’Adua’s illness complicated matters, making it contentious for him to assume acting powers.
He said as vice president, he performed executive duties but could not act as commander-in-chief without formal transfer of power, leaving him in a constitutional dilemma.
