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Patience Jonathan, wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, has revealed the reasons why she would never accept the opportunity to return to Aso Rock Villa.
Mrs. Jonathan’s husband was president of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015.
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Before becoming Nigeria’s president, Jonathan served as vice president to the late President Umar Yar’adua. He initially took over as interim president when Yar’adua fell ill and assumed the full role of president when Yar’adua died in 2010. However, he lost his re-election bid, which would have allowed him to remain in Aso Villa for another four years, to former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
At an event held on Friday in Abuja, Mrs. Jonathan recalled her time as the wife of the President and a key figure in the first family at the Aso Villa. The event was a colloquium organised to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).
The 58-year-old, known for her humorous quirks but confident in speaking English during her husband’s administration, said: “The stress of Nigeria is too much. I will not go there if you call me now for the Villa. I will not. Don’t you see how young I look? The stress is too much.
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“The stress in Nigeria is enormous. If God manages to get you out of there, you must glorify God and thank Him. It is the Lord’s work and it is wonderful in our eyes. He took you there once, so why do you want to go back there? I will not go.”
After the elections
Sharing her reflections on her husband’s defeat in 2015, Mrs. Jonathan said she encouraged her husband not to cling to office.
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In 2015, before the elections and the full election results were released, there was speculation that Jonathan would not leave office even if he lost the election to Buhari.
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Refuting the speculation, Mrs Jonathan said her husband never opted for that path but rather gracefully accepted the outcome and admitted defeat to his opponent, Mr Buhari, without any public resistance or outcry.
“When we failed in the elections, we were in the room together when they told us we had lost. I didn’t whisper to him that we should stay because we would spill blood.
“Innocent people would die and we didn’t know who would die. It could be me, it could be you or my brothers and sisters. We didn’t need anyone to die,” he added.
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After completing the late Mr. Yar’adua’s four-year term as president, Mr. Jonathan won election for a new four-year term in 2011.
However, he lost his re-election bid to former President Buhari in 2015.
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