Former President Goodluck Jonathan has revealed he was advised to leave the Presidential Villa during President Umaru Yar’Adua’s health crisis over fears of a potential military coup.
In an interview with the Rainbow Book Club about his memoir My Transition Hours, Jonathan recalled that some associates urged him to sleep elsewhere for safety, warning that the North-South and Christian-Muslim divide had created a volatile atmosphere.
“Every day I was hearing about a coup. Some friends said, ‘Don’t sleep in the Villa, come stay at my guest house,’” he recounted.
“But I refused. If they wanted to kill me, let it be in the State House so Nigerians would know I was assassinated there. I had committed no offence.”
Jonathan’s account underscores the tense power dynamics and personal risks he faced during one of Nigeria’s most delicate transitions of power.
