Former President Goodluck Jonathan has revealed that the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua did sign a letter formally transferring power to him during his prolonged illness but the letter was never submitted to the National Assembly.
Speaking during an interview with the Rainbow Book Club, Jonathan described this critical period which he also chronicles in his memoir, My Transition Hours — as one of the most turbulent moments in Nigeria’s democratic history.
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A Crisis of Power and Silence
Yar’Adua’s extended medical absence had left Nigeria in a constitutional vacuum, sparking nationwide uncertainty. Although he reportedly signed a letter authorizing Jonathan to act in his place, someone deliberately withheld it.
“That letter was written,” Jonathan confirmed. “But the person who the letter was handed over to I will not mention the name refused to submit it to the National Assembly. Yar’Adua became so ill that he had no control of issues.”
This omission left Jonathan, then vice-president, powerless to act fully as president or to assume the role of commander-in-chief, despite ongoing national unrest.
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Ethnic Tensions and Political Expectations
Jonathan also touched on the ethnic and regional sensitivities that shaped the moment. Following Yar’Adua, a northern Muslim, succeeding Olusegun Obasanjo, a southern Christian, there had been an unspoken understanding that power would remain in the north for eight years before rotating.
“But the health issue came up, and that was the problem. And that is why even to allow me to act was an issue,” he said.
The growing power vacuum, coupled with religious and ethnic fault lines, escalated the political tension in the country.
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‘Doctrine of Necessity Saved Nigeria’
As vice-president, Jonathan was able to perform some executive duties, but the absence of a formal handover prevented him from assuming full constitutional authority.
“The president of Nigeria has two main responsibilities,” he explained. “First, you are the chief executive, like a prime minister that the vice president can assume. But there’s no such thing as an ‘acting commander-in-chief.’ You are either commander-in-chief or not.”
With Nigeria on the brink of chaos, the National Assembly invoked the “Doctrine of Necessity”, officially naming Jonathan acting president a move he believes averted a national crisis.
“The country was tense. Under this north-south divide, Christian-Muslim divide, it was really tense,” he recalled. “Every day I was hearing about coup.”
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‘Better to Die in the State House’
Amid the uncertainty, Jonathan said friends and allies warned him about the risk of staying in the Presidential Villa.
“Some of my friends came and said, ‘You don’t have to sleep here. Come and sleep in my guest house,’” he recounted.
But he refused.
“I said, ‘No. I will stay in the State House. If anybody wants to kill me, it’s better they kill me in the State House so Nigerians will know. If I go and stay in your guest house and people kill me there, they’ll now say Indian girls brought apple to kill me. And I wouldn’t want that kind of story.’”
Despite the personal risk, Jonathan said he remained calm and resolute, trusting that he had done nothing wrong.
“To me, I was not bothered. Really, I was not bothered. And I was very calm. But that was the scenario.”
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A Defining Chapter in Nigeria’s Democracy
Jonathan’s reflections offer fresh insight into a pivotal moment in Nigeria’s political history one that tested the strength of its democracy, the loyalty of its leaders, and the patience of its people.
As he tells it, the decision to stay, to act, and to wait was not only political it was personal.
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