Better to lose power and gain honour – Jonathan

FORMER President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has reiterated that it is ‘better to lose power and gain honour’. In a Facebook post on Friday, GEJ as he was fondly called, recommended the ‘philosophy’ to all leaders facing challenging situations at the polls.

“Nobody’s ambition is worth the blood of any citizen. It is better to gain honour at the cost of losing power than to gain power at the cost of losing honour,”, said Jonathan, who became a ‘global poster boy’ for democracy following his quick acceptance of defeat in the 2015 presidential poll in which Muhammed Buhari of then oppositional All Progressives Congress APC, defeated him.

“At any point in time, the power of love should matter more than the love of power. This is my philosophy. I have lived it; it has brought great peace to both my beloved nation and I. And I recommend it to all leaders facing challenging situations, either in government, or at the polls, or even in their dealings with fellow political actors,” Jonathan wrote.

Although he was not specific about the world ‘leaders’ he made the recommendation to, the statement, however, is coming at a time when the United States is at the polls to elect a new President to lead the nation for another four years.

The incumbent American President, Donald Trump, and his Democrat challenger Joe Biden are presently slugging it out at the polls but the Electoral College votes are tilting in favour of Biden who is some figures away from the required 270.
President Trump has, however, been alleging fraud in the voting process. He has also threatened that the election would end up at the US Supreme Court.