If you don't know, this is how Jonathan became vice president in 2007, Obasanjo reveals
- Goodluck Jonathan was not PDP's first choice for vice president in 2007
- The former president was picked because Peter Odili, the original person for the slot was facing EFCC allegations
- These revelations were given by Olusegun Obasanjo on Sunday, January 31
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A former president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, has made some revelations about how Goodluck Ebele Jonathan became the vice president of Nigeria in 2007.
Obasanjo on Sunday, January 31, disclosed that the slot was originally for Peter Odili, the former governor of Rivers, but that he lost the opportunity because of a corruption allegation against him from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), The Nation reports
He added that this made Odili lose out dramatically at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)'s national convention in Abuja.
The former Nigerian leader went on to state that the then president, Musa Yar’Adua, went for the second option, Jonathan, who at the time had everything working well for him, including a clean record.
His words:
“Peter Odili was a much stronger personality than Goodluck Jonathan but Peter Odili had an EFCC issue which made him be dropped and once he was dropped, the next man was Goodluck Jonathan and Goodluck Jonathan had all going for him.
“He was not a strong character as Peter Odili, I will admit that, but he was not a pushover; he had been a deputy governor, he had been a governor and his state was doing fairly well.
“I don’t know what else anybody will say because the deputy president had to come from the South and we had agreed that it would come from the South-south.”
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Meanwhile, a grand plot to draft Jonathan into the presidential race commenced with four All Progressives Congress (APC) governors from the north leading the charge.
Legit.ng gathered that a group of 10 politicians from the south comprising notable figures from Bayelsa, the home state of the former president, had been given the mandate to begin a media campaign that would midwife the plan.
According to the report, the group led by a chieftain of the APC from Bayelsa and Jonathan’s political ally was said to have met on two occasions to discuss the modalities of rolling out the campaign.
Source: Legit.ng