Goodluck Jonathan was not a weak or incompetent president, according to Bolaji Abdullahi, a former minister of youth and sports development.
He claimed that Jonathan was a victim of the politicians in his immediate vicinity playing politics.
The former minister claimed that after losing his seat in the 2015 presidential election, Jonathan intervened to prevent carnage in Nigeria.
At the weekend, he gave a speech at his book’s launch: “On a Platter of Gold: How Jonathan won and lost Nigeria,” in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
He added that the former president led in accordance with the constitution and never used dictatorial power.
He said: “Definitely President Jonathan was not weak nor clueless from my experience. Most important thing I know about him is that he is very patriotic, but as a patriot he is also some one who is careful about how he uses power.
“Jonathan understands the enormity of the power of the president and he used to say that if the president of Nigeria uses 30 percent of his disposal he would become a dictator.
“So, he is some one who is careful and also reluctant to hurt people. Because of his reluctance to hurt people, it is possible that some one would integrate it as weakness. Some of the things that he did at the time that people regarded him as clueless, some other people have done the same thing or even worse.
“I think he was a victim of that kind of politics of that time. I think if he had been president of this time, he would probably have had a different approach.”
