Elder statesman and nationalist, Dr. Paul Unongo, has revealed why he withdrew support for former President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2015 reelection bid.
He said Jonathan lost control of power and was not good to be President.
According to him, the immediate past president allowed his tribesmen to hijack his government, looting the country’s treasury dry.
Unongo told Vanguard that Jonathan lacked the experience to govern Nigeria and failed to listen to advice from elder statesmen.
According to him, “I had a reason why I did not vote for Jonathan for second term; I decided that he was not good to be president. In 2011, I told Jonathan when he came to Makurdi that we would vote for him.
“And when it was time not to vote for him, I went to him and told him we were not going to vote for him.
“Then I advised him, because it was not something to fight, that ‘when you lose this election, don’t let these useless people that are around you stealing money and you have been seeing and they have been pushing you into trouble, push you to sit tight because you have presidential power.
“You are a young man. You are only 50 plus, and if you do what I am advising you to do, you would be surprised maybe God would bring you back.’
“I withdrew my electoral support for him because he allowed people to run his life. When you are a leader, you should allow people to help you but do not let them take the decision-making power from you.
“I discussed with him and told him that this was going to work against him. Those that were supposed to help him didn’t help him, most especially after the death of his first Chief of Staff.
“The people around him were just after their interests, and they saw this young man that had no experience, they were using him, exploiting him and using his name for all kinds of things.
“And because he decided to see only certain kinds of people, not some of us that appeared critical of certain things, I felt he lost good advice.”
