Special Adviser on Niger Delta, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, said on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 that President Goodluck Jonathan’s historic and unprecedented phone call to the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, saved Nigeria from a civil war.
Mr. Kuku said this while speaking at the inauguration of a 500-seat lecture theatre donated by the Alumni Association of the Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, and named in honour of President Goodluck Jonathan.
He said that the decision by President Goodluck Jonathan to concede defeat was one which the President took wholly by himself.
According to Mr. Kuku: “That phone call saved Nigeria. Even the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, knew Nigeria was about to be made or marred. As results were still being collated, Mr. President was still busy with the problems of Nigeria, signing papers and working for the country.
“He saved this country; so many people predicted that we would have been at war by now. Even the so called advanced democracies had predicted 2015 as a year of doom for Nigeria.
“President Jonathan has scored another first. He did this without any pains, without any regret. We asked him why he did that without waiting for the final results to be announced. He said to us, ‘when things would happen, it must definitely happen. At such time you will need no advice from people, your adviser must be God Almighty.’ He didn’t have anybody with him when he made that phone call.”
Mr. Kuku described President Goodluck Jonathan as the luckiest president, in that he rose from Deputy Governor to become President in just 10 years.
He recounted how former President Olusegun Obasanjo convinced Jonathan to become Nigerian Vice President when he was thinking of seeking reelection as Bayelsa Governor.
“This man has never fought for anything but God has made them happen. I’m happy to be part of history of President Goodluck Jonathan,” he added.
