Jonathan reportedly conceded defeat to Buhari to avoid ruling during recession

ayodele johnson

October 26, 2018 9:36 PM

When former president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan conceded defeat to the incumbent Muhammadu Buhari, he was hailed for being a peace lover. But a Federal minister Babatunde Fashola thinks he had a motive.

President Muhammadu Buhari with former president, Goodluck Jonathan

Former president of Nigeria Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was applauded by the world for accepting loss at the 2015 presidential elections, but it may have been to avoid ruling Nigeria during an economic recession.

A Federal minister Babatunde Fashola thinks so in a report published today by the Premium Times News.

Fashola has submitted that Nigeria under the administration of the past president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan owed some significant debts. ece-auto-gen

Fashola reportedly mentioned this at a meeting "organised by the Minister for Information, Lai Mohammed". The Premium Times confirms this in the report.

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At the Emeritus Professor Theophilus Ogunlesi Hall in Ibadan, the minister blames the Jonathan administration for the debts inherited by his team.

”What was left behind were massive debts owed to contractors who had not been paid for three to five years and who had laid off thousands of workers and shut down equipment and plants.

”That was one of the reasons why the economy first went into, and, I suspect, one of the reasons they (Goodluck administration) quickly conceded defeat," says Fashola in a report by the Premium Times News.

Will Buhari be getting a phone call?

President Muhammadu Buhari who is also facing the danger of being sacked from office at next year's poll has commended his predecessor for his display of sportsmanship which is widely believed to have delivered Nigeria from potential violence.

Before the election result announcing Buhari as the president was made public by INEC, Jonathan reportedly called the incumbent over the phone to congratulate him on his victory.

Atiku Abubakar already has the support of his party PDP in a planned bid to reduce the price of fuel in Nigeria to an affordable amount. At his conglomerates, staff have received approval for a new minimum wage. ece-auto-gen

ALSO READ: 78 candidates to contest against Buhari in 2019 presidential election

For now, it is a tight contest between Buhari and the PDP's candidate Atiku Abubakar who has criticized the other for lacking a cutting edge in leadership.

One of Atiku's experiences being the former Vice-President of Nigeria has made him to think himself a better option compared to Buhari who recently launched the new International Terminal of the Port Harcourt Airport.

It is considered one of the big achievement of his administration committed to upgrading Nigeria's assets.

ayodele johnson