I’m not desperate for power, Jonathan declares

He has said it and we have to take him for his words. President Goodluck Jonathan has declared that he was not desperate to serve.

He stated this yesterday in Abuja at the launch of the book , ‘The People’s Choice’, at the Presidential Villa.

The book which chronicles his life is authored by Rev. Fr. Charles Imokhan.

President Jonathan said: “Sometimes people ask me ‘Mr. President, from what we read and what we see, we see you are still smiling and unruffled.’ Yes, nothing will really ruffle me because I’m willing and ready to serve but I’m not desperate to serve.

“And that is what keeps me going and if all of us who want to hold office from the least -a councillor or chairman of a council, a member of the state house of assembly or member of House of Representatives, Senate, or President; if all of us are always ready and willing to serve our people, but we are not desperate in that our mission, then of course Nigeria will be a better place for all of us.”

He pledged to continue to empower Nigerians with quality education to enable them realise their potentials.

“Because my story is a humble story and whenever I read write ups about me, especially my personal account from my birth to when I got into the limelight as deputy governor, most times the accounts are not very accurate,” he said of the book .

“I think the only accurate account will be when I write when I leave office. But to some extent this particular account is reasonably close, the whole story has been captured except for minor details.”

He expressed gratitude to the author for “ representing me to Nigerians.”

The story of his life,he said, “is meant to encourage young people. I have to thank the people who bought the book for Almajiri schools because my dream is that one day a product of Almajiri school will stand here as a president of this country.

“And that is why I have been very passionate about education and I tell people that I grew up from a very poor background. But luckily Nigeria is not a cast society, if I were to be an Indian, I probably wouldn’t even have dreamt of being a commissioner in my state.

“Because in a cast society some people permanently belong to a lower class, but Nigeria is an open society, so you can move from the lowest level to the top but for you to do that one key thing is education and that is why I lay so much emphasis on education.

“That was why when I came here I decided that every state must have a federal university.”

Former military head of state,General Yakubu Gowon, who stood in for Alhaji Maitama Sule as chairman of the occasion, corrected an impression in the book concerning the Aburi Accord.

He said: “I have seen that you have gone back in history in your research on Ojukwu and myself on the Aburi Accord. I was fascinated by that because I can assure you that meeting was to break the ice and to all of us allow the military leaders at the time to be able and to agree to be discussing our problems in Nigeria and to solve them.

“ What happened to us at Aburi was that I couldn’t make it because I was unfortunately down with fever. And Ojukwu got back and made a statement and that wasn’t what we discussed and that was the beginning of the misunderstanding not because we agreed to work with Ojukwu.

“Since you presented that we had a meeting I thought I should make that comment and to correct that.” he said

Gen.Gowon urged Nigerians to vote according to their conscience in the forthcoming general elections.

He said: “Vote your conscience but vote right. I hope all of you here will do the right thing and vote for the people’s choice.”

The author, Rev. Fr. Charles Imokhan, said that he was encouraged to write the book because of the good work the president has been doing.

The Chief Launcher at the event, Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu, announced a donation of N25m and another N26m on behalf of his friends.

He also announced a donation of N20m on behalf of the co-launcher, Chief Cletus Ibeto, who was said to be abroad..

Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State bought copies of the book for members of the state executive council for N20m and  a copy each for all state governors for N10m.

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Adamu Muazu, bought copies of the book for N10m.

Alhaji Hauwa Lawal bought copies  for N10m; Mr. Tunde Ayeni bought for N10m; Mr. Kola Adesina bought for N12m and Charles Momoh bought for N5m while the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, bought on behalf of women for N5m.

The PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation and a former Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, donated N1m each.

Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Pius Anyim, bought 50 copies for members of the Federal Executive Council at a special rate of N15,000 per copy.

At the occasion, hardback copies of the book were sold for N10,000 each while the paperback copies cost N7,000 each.