Jonathan almost destroyed Nigeria, says Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has described President Goodluck Jonathan as “a moving train that almost destroyed Nigeria”.
He said it was through divine intervention that Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, defeated Jonathan, who contested on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on March 28.
A few weeks to the election, Obasanjo, a former Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of PDP, left the party and publicly told one of the PDP chiefs in Abeokuta to tear his party card.
He also canvassed support for Buhari.
Buhari had contested against Obasanjo in 2003 and against Obasanjo’s anointed candidate in 2007, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. He lost.
He also lost to Jonathan in 2011.
Obasanjo, who spoke in Washington D.C., the United States (U.S.), said most African leaders were happy over Jonathan’s defeat.
The former Head of State was the Speaker at a United States Institute for Peace (USIP) event titled ‘What is Right with Africa: Reframing Africa’s Leadership Challenges’.
He said: “I have visited six countries since the election. They are as happy about the results as we are in Nigeria. It is good not only for Nigeria, it is good for Africa and I believe it is good for the world. Nigeria obsessively plays a dangerous game of moving close to the precipice. I hope we will not fall over one of these days because one month to the election, no one believed we will have a peaceful election that is reasonably free and fair.
“My role during the election was that of a person standing on the track of a moving train. I faced the option of jumping off the tracks or be crushed if the train did not providentially get derailed and stop.
“I refused to jump and I was not crushed. At every stage, there must be leaders imbued with sufficient courage to stand firm when you have to stand firm.”