Former President Goodluck Jonathan has disclosed that he had the power to halt the 2015 general elections following repeated malfunctions of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) card reader system.
In an interview on Thursday, Jonathan recounted the tense atmosphere surrounding the polls, explaining that the card reader failed to recognize him, his wife, and his mother at their polling station.
“In 2015, the INEC card reader rejected many voters in the South, including me and my wife, which led to frustration. Meanwhile, in the North, everyone was allowed to vote without accreditation. You could clearly see something was wrong. I could have stopped the election,” he revealed.
He described the period as highly charged, marked by deep North-South and Christian-Muslim divisions, adding that there were persistent rumors of a coup and threats to his life.
“I said if anyone wants to kill me, they should do it in the State House so Nigerians would know I was assassinated there. I had done nothing wrong,” Jonathan stated.
The former president also mentioned that he refused to lodge in a guest house for his safety, explaining that doing so might have fueled false stories.
“If I moved to a guest house and something happened, people would have said strange stories like I was poisoned by someone who brought me apples,” he explained.
Reflecting on that experience, Jonathan highlighted the difficulty of governing a deeply divided nation during such a volatile election period.
“It was a challenging time for Nigeria, filled with political tension and security threats that weighed heavily on the entire electoral process,” he concluded.
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