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Dear compatriots, four months ago,
providence placed me at the leadership
of our dear country, following the
untimely death of our dear former
President, my brother and leader,
President Umaru Musa Yar’adua. It was a
very solemn and trying moment for me
personally and for the country as a
whole. My immediate task and priority
was and still remains to give the nation
purposeful leadership and to focus on
the priorities of our administration in
order to maintain national peace and
stability and pursue our key development
priorities. In these few months as
leader of the country, I have
concentrated on managing the affairs of
the nation, and resisted all efforts to
respond to the drums of partisan
politics which have been sounding very
loud across the land. As President and
leader of government, I decided not to
place partisan politics above the
immediate needs and priorities of our
people. I came under intense pressure to
make a declaration concerning my
political future, but declined to do so
because that would have immediately
distracted us from all the development
initiatives we have accomplished so far.
I therefore told Nigerians to give me
time to concentrate on my work and that
at the appropriate time I would make a
public statement on my political future
after due consultations with all the
segments and leaders of our nation.
Today, I confirm that after wide and
thorough consultations spanning the six
geo-political zones that make up
Nigeria, with members of my family, my
party, the opposition, civil society,
the Private Sector, members of the
Labour Unions, religious leaders, youths
and student groups and our revered
traditional institutions, I Goodluck
Ebele Jonathan by the grace of God
hereby offer myself and my services to
the Nigerian people as a candidate for
the office of President in the forth
coming 2011 elections. In presenting
myself for service, I make no pretense
that I have a magic wand that will solve
all of Nigeria’s problems or that I am
the most intelligent Nigerian. Far from
it. What I do promise is this – If I am
elected President in 2011, I will make a
covenant with you the Nigerian people to
always do right by you, to tell you the
truth at all times, to carry you along
and most importantly to listen to you,
fellow citizens in our communities and
also those of you on this page. I do not
want to win your affections by giving
you promises of things I would do in the
future which others before me have given
and which have largely been unfulfilled.
Rather, I would want you to judge me by
my records. Since God Almighty and
yourselves permitted me to serve you in
the present capacity, I have busied
myself with setting Nigeria on the path
of peace and progress.
My team and I made no promises on
adequate fuel supply in Nigeria. We
simply did what was expected of those
who govern, we delivered it, and you are
living witnesses to that. We made no
promise to revamp the textile industry.
We delivered a bailout package worth 150
billion naira that is being dispensed as
I write. We made no promises of securing
the highest U.S Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) aviation clearance,
the Category 1 Certificate which enables
Nigerian registered airlines to fly to
ANY U.S city. We delivered. We made no
promise to give Nigeria a brand new INEC
under a proven God-fearing and
incorruptible leader. We placed Nigeria
first and delivered. We made no promises
of protecting your loans, deposits and
investments in the banking industry over
and beyond what is covered under the
Nigerian Deposit Insurance Scheme. We
delivered it via AMCON. Rather than tell
you what we could do to improve power,
this administration demonstrated it by
initiating a brand new national Super
Grid as well as launching a concrete
Road Map to the Power Sector with
realistic goals tied to realistic dates.
I understand from some of your mails
that there has been some small
improvements in electricity supply in
some communities. We met an economy that
was beginning to slow due to the global
recession. Today, the economy has
verifiably grown by 7% this half year
ending in June.
I know you are tired of empty promises,
so I will make only one promise to you
today. The only promise I make to you my
friends, fellow citizens and Nigeria, is
to promise LESS and deliver MORE if I am
elected. I call on you to join me to
work together in harmony and synergy to
forge a nation where we understand our
differences instead of pretending they
do not exist and work towards a perfect
union founded on transparency, equity
and justice. A nation that is on her way
to repairing her International
reputation and project to the world that
things have changed and the people of
Nigeria have now taken Nigeria back from
a few into the hands of her people who
are eager, very eager to pull her weight
in the forward movement of the African
continent and the world in the pursuit
of peace, prosperity and happiness.
I will by the special grace of God be
making a formal declaration to this
effect at the Eagle’s Square, Abuja, on
Saturday 18 September 2011.
I call on you my friends on this page
and all Nigerians to give me your
support and prayers so that together we
can liberate our country from the
confines and self –inflicted wounds and
limitations of the past. My dear friends
and fellow citizens, to borrow an often
used slogan by our youths, please join
me in proclaiming: Forward Ever,
Backward Never! Please let us all unite
across tongue and creed to move our long
suffering nation forward together. I
thank you and may God bless our country
Nigeria. GEJ
Zackary’s comment:
We are not interested in thesis and flower language.Oga Jonathan,how do you plan to
tame the excesses of the 1st Lady?The way things are going Turai may be less
objectionable after all.
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