Donald Duke, former governor of Cross River state, says former President Goodluck Jonathan told his benefactor, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, that he did not want to be vice-president in 2007.
Obasanjo had, at the end of his eight-year tenure, endorsed Umaru Musa Yar’Aadua as his successor, pairing him with Jonathan who had just been elected PDP governorship candidate in Bayelsa state.
Yar’Adua, who was terminally ill, eventually died in office in 2010 and Jonathan became president by default.
Speaking in the maiden edition of The Interview, a magazine published by Azu Ishiekwene, Duke said both Yar’Adua and Jonathan were not mentally prepared for power and lacked the vision to preside over the affairs of the country.
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Duke said: “Umaru never wanted to be president. He was dealing with his health issues and wanted to retire and go lecture in a university. He was really offered an appointment at the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria.
“Jonathan, on the other hand, had just been re-elected to be governor of Bayelsa and when he was picked, he was not so pleased. He said to Obasanjo and me, ‘I don’t want this job.’
“If these two men never aspired to the office but were recruited to take on a responsibility as daunting as the management of Nigeria without mentally preparing for the office and having a grand vision of where they wanted to take Nigeria to, then there is a problem.
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“The mental preparation is absolutely important. The vision can be scripted for you, but if you are not prepared and you have no capable team to help you follow through, it is grossly unfair. It is like converting a passenger on an aircraft to a pilot.”
Duke unsuccessfully sought the PDP’s presidential ticket in 2007 and was thought to be in running for the VP slot along with Peter Odili, former governor of Rivers state, but Obasanjo settled for Jonathan.
10 comments
He knew he wasn’t prepared, and he still went ahead
Agreed with. Are both president under 18 years old or don’t what it takes to be president. Please Duke say something else.
I don’t agree with both president not willing for the position. (You can take horsesome to river for water but you cannot force them to drink). Did force Obasanjo forced it on them or are they under 18 years. Mr. Duke, please say something else,.
Your comment..Is there any training institute made to train presidential candidates and their deputies?
Duke or what ever your name is , stop emmbarasing the generally of souvering Nigerians we are not happy withe stage of this nation
.Duke should come to mile 2 to tin can island port road how it Luke like he will know we don’t have gov for 8yrs jonathan spend ..the road still there the same till now.
Your comment..Obasanjo is only pretending he love Nigeria. He never loved Nigeria. He in 1979 gave Nigeria the least prepared and qualified among all the presidential aspirants and did the same thing again in 2007 by giving us Umar/Jonathan who never wanted the office, when he was supposed to correct his mistake of 1979
Regardless of their initial reluctance,both men should be commended for their bravery in taking on such a daunting task.
Obj should be understood for who he is,a self centred megalomaniac whose patriotic pretext continues to diminish the nation’s trajectory.President Jonathan reminded Obj to his face how he told him he knew ab initio Yaradua would soon die which Obj has not denied to date.The same Obj preferred an incompetent and unwilling Shagari to a better prepared and a visionary Awolowo.Posterity cannot favour such cruel personage.To think that the same NNPC Obj superintended upon as a defacto minister is now the one found in cesspit of convoluted misappropriation claiming almost half of the nation’s receivables even under Obasanjo’s watch is wicked and devious.I think Nigeria should just ignore this Obj and move on to savage her destiny electorally conferred on Buhari and the aficionados of Change.
Editor please, for you not to loose many readers. continue giving us genuine news this is no news that one can waste his time to comment on.
Nice to know information but not relevant to our present state of affairs.