Finally, former President Jonathan shares how he felt when lost 2015 election

Nine years after losing the 2015 presidential election to former President Muhammadu Buhari, former President Goodluck Jonathan has shared publicly how he felt.

Jonathan said he felt it was just himself against the world. He said the feeling was that the world was against him.

Speaking in Abuja on Friday at the maiden edition of the Raymond Dokpesi annual diamond lecture, Jonathan said the late media mogul was among those that encouraged him to keep hop alive.

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The event was organised by Daar Communications in collaboration with the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations.

Aboutl Jonathan

Jonathan was Nigerian president from 2010 to 2015. Before he was made president through a doctrine of necessity after the demised of his boss, former President Musa Yar’Adua, he was was deputy governor and governor of Bayelsa
State as well as vice president to Yar’Adua.

In 2015, Jonathan, who sought a second term on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was defeated by Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

After the outcome of the poll, Jonathan became the first incumbent president to lose his reelection bid in Nigeria’s history.

He conceded defeat and congratulated Buhari even before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the official results.

He said, “It is not easy to lose an election as a president. You will think the whole world is against you.”

The former president said the late Dokpesi consoled him after the defeat, encouraging him to keep hope alive.

“But then, Dokpesi invited me before I handed over. I remember what he said to me when I lost the election,” he said.

“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 explain it more elaborately.”

Dokpesi, the founder of Daar Communications, died in May 2023