YOUR SAY: Did GEJ concede election reluctantly?

Someone is trying to strip Goodluck Jonathan of the cult-hero status he gained after the presidential election.

On march 28, with Muhammadu Buhari maintaining a seemingly-insurmountable lead of over 2 million votes and with just a few states to go, Jonathan called the retired-general to congratulate him and ask him to come to the villa in a few days so that plans on the handover process could begin.

Whenever he had to address that action in all of his speeches as president-elect, Buhari had nothing but praise for the man he was to replace in office. But the president’s latest comments show he might have been mincing words in his previous utterances.

Last week, during his trip to the United states, Buhari – asked to comment on the significance of Jonathan’s action – suggested that the then president had no other option but to concede election, following sustained pressure from the international community on the sanctity of election results, particularly the meeting of John Kerry, the US secretary of states with the two leading candidates shortly before the election.

Buhari then reechoed those words on Tuesday during a radio programme in Abuja, specifically saying this time that the previous administration left office “reluctantly”.

In the weeks that followed Jonathan’s concession, certain individuals were reported to have persuaded the president to acknowledge the victory of the opposition, suggesting that the Buhari phone call was not his original idea. With his comment on Tuesday, Buhari has effectively reopened the debate about whether Jonathan conceded election wholeheartedly or grudgingly.