Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has issued a measured but firm response to recent criticism from former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, declaring that he did his best while in office and that no leader, regardless of stature, is exempt from making mistakes. Jonathan’s reply came days after Atiku, a presidential aspirant on the platform of the African Democratic Congress, described him during an interview on Prime Time on Arise TV as “a decent young man, but inexperienced,” attributing some of the challenges of the Jonathan administration to a lack of adequate leadership preparation.
Speaking at the 2025 Association of Retired Career Ambassadors of Nigeria awards ceremony in Abuja on Monday, Jonathan rejected the characterization while acknowledging that perfection in governance remains an impossible standard.
Addressing the gathering of senior diplomats, the former president offered a pointed response to Atiku’s remarks without naming him directly. “Not too long ago, a very senior politician said, ‘Oh, Jonathan was too young and probably that’s why he made mistakes,’” Jonathan said. He then asked rhetorically, “If I made mistakes, yes, nobody who becomes a governor or a president will say you did not make mistakes. Even when you promote yourself to the level of a god, you become a deity. All human beings must make mistakes.” Jonathan noted that he became president in 2010 at the age of 53 and left office in 2015 at 58. “They say I was too young. Must it have been 100 years before I ran the affairs of the state?” he said, dismissing the notion that age alone determines leadership competence.
The former president used the opportunity to highlight what he described as significant diplomatic achievements under his watch, particularly Nigeria’s election to the United Nations Security Council. “I’m talking to diplomats, so I can say that during my period, I knew what I did for us to appear in the UN Security Council two times. If I were so naive, I don’t think I would have been able to navigate through that process,” Jonathan stated, directly pushing back against the suggestion that his tenure was marked by inexperience.
Beyond his own defence, Jonathan used the platform to deliver a broader message on governance and regional stability. Speaking on the state of West African countries, he stressed that political stability remains a critical foundation for economic development, warning that unstable governance systems will continue to hinder progress across the region.
He observed that while the founding fathers of ECOWAS had a strong vision, the bloc continues to face instability due to political challenges in member states. “We cannot progress economically if we are very unstable societies politically,” he said, adding that efforts to promote democracy and good governance often clash with national sovereignty, making consensus among leaders difficult.
Jonathan urged West African leaders to take collective responsibility for stabilising the region, stating that “the heads of states of ECOWAS must continue to work together and agree on concrete terms and make sure that the sub-region is politically stable.” He also called on Nigerian diplomats to document the country’s foreign policy experiences to guide future administrations.
Atiku’s original comments, which sparked the exchange, were made during his Arise TV interview as he positioned himself for the 2027 presidential race. “I know Goodluck Jonathan very well. He is a decent young man, but also inexperienced, and I believe that contributed to his inability to manage the affairs of the country, particularly when he was faced with challenges,” Atiku had said.
The remarks drew immediate and sharp condemnation from various quarters. Reuben Abati, a veteran journalist who served as Jonathan’s special adviser on media and publicity, criticised Atiku on the same Arise TV platform, describing the comments as “condescending and very rude.” Abati noted the contrast in their political trajectories, stating, “Jonathan was president of this country, a position that Atiku didn’t even get to. He is still aspiring to get there 30 years after his initial aspiration. And to refer to a former president as a man who is not experienced smirks of arrogance.”
The Citizens Alliance for Transparent Leadership also issued a strongly worded statement dismissing Atiku’s claim as “not just wrong, but mischievous.” The group highlighted Jonathan’s constitutional rise through every rung of leadership, from deputy governor to governor, vice-president, and acting president during a critical national period. “To dismiss that trajectory as ‘inexperience’ is either a willful distortion of facts or a troubling misunderstanding of governance itself,” the group stated.
Similarly, the Goodluck Jonathan Legacy Project questioned Atiku’s moral authority to speak on the subject, describing him as a “career presidential candidate” whose own experience has “failed to translate into national leadership for him.” The group further pointed to economic achievements during Jonathan’s tenure, including Nigeria becoming Africa’s largest economy, the reduction of poverty to 35.8 percent, and recognition by the Food and Agriculture Organisation for meeting the Millennium Development Goal on hunger.
The exchange between the two political heavyweights comes at a time of intense jockeying for the 2027 presidential ticket under the ADC, a platform that has attracted multiple high-profile aspirants including Atiku, former Labour Party candidate Peter Obi, former Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi, and former Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso. Atiku, during his interview, had also played down the prominence of some of his rivals, limiting Obi’s support base to the South-East and Amaechi’s strength to the South-South.
As Jonathan’s remarks continue to reverberate across political circles, his measured defence has shifted attention back to his own legacy and raised questions about whether the former president might himself be considering a return to the ballot. For now, however, Jonathan has confined his response to a simple, unflinching statement: he did his best, mistakes and all, and no amount of revisionism can erase that.
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