The ex-president made the disclosure on Saturday in Abuja during a colourful event organised by the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation (GJF) to mark its 10th anniversary and, coincidentally, his own 68th birthday. The dual celebration, themed “Legacy of Impact: Celebrating Our Journey,” combined a public symposium with an evening gala dinner attended by political associates, diplomats, civil society leaders, and well-wishers.
Explaining what many of his supporters have seen as political hibernation, Dr Jonathan told the audience that membership of the West African Elders Forum comes with an explicit and non-negotiable condition: total detachment from partisan political activity.
“The rule is clear,” he said. “To belong to WAEF, you must be a former Head of State within the ECOWAS region, a former chairman of ECOWAS, and, most importantly, you must no longer be an active politician. That is why I keep disappointing many of my political associates who expect me to jump back into the arena. If tomorrow I decide to play active partisan politics again, the first thing I will do is tender my resignation from the Elders Forum.”
He described the Forum’s work as “preventive diplomacy at its finest.” Members, he explained, are deployed to countries holding elections not merely as observers but as discreet mediators who monitor the process and quietly intervene whenever tensions threaten to spiral into violence.
“We go in before the crisis erupts,” he stressed. “We talk to the electoral commission, the security agencies, the political parties, traditional rulers, and youth groups. If we notice anything that could snowball into a full-blown crisis, we step in immediately to douse the tension. That impartial role is only possible when everyone trusts that we have no partisan interest.”
Turning to the state of politics in Nigeria, the former president lamented what he called the growing “rascality” in the political space and urged practitioners to embrace decorum, responsibility, and basic training.
“Politics should not be a free-for-all motor-park affair,” he said, drawing laughter and applause. “In teaching, medicine, law, or engineering, you must be trained and certified before you practise. But in politics, anybody wakes up, prints a poster, and the next thing you see is ‘Vote Me as President.’ We must change that narrative. Politics must become the business of responsible men and women who understand that leadership is a sacred trust.”
Jonathan also expressed profound sadness over the recent abduction of about 25 schoolgirls in Kebbi State, an incident that painfully reminded him of the 2014 Chibok girls’ kidnapping that occurred under his watch. He extended heartfelt condolences to the family of the vice principal killed during the attack and called for sustained prayers for the safe return of the girls and an end to insecurity in the land.
Reflecting on the birth of the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation a decade ago, the former president gave credit to billionaire businessman and philanthropist Mr Tony Elumelu for planting the seed. After conceding defeat in the 2015 presidential election—an action that earned him global acclaim—Jonathan said he initially contemplated a foundation that would tackle education, poverty alleviation, and environmental degradation in the Niger Delta.
However, friends and advisers convinced him to narrow the focus to the area where his personal legacy was already indelible: the promotion and defence of democracy.
“Because I strengthened INEC, because I conceded even before the final results were announced, because that single act stabilised Nigeria and was celebrated worldwide, they said, ‘Goodluck, let democracy be your niche.’ That is how the GJF came to concentrate on democratic consolidation, good governance, and peace-building,” he recounted.
In her keynote address, the Executive Director of the Foundation, Ms Ann Iyonu, described the past ten years as a decade of “relentless commitment to inclusive democracy and sustainable peace across Africa.”
She highlighted landmark achievements, including election mediation missions in several West African countries, participation in continental and international election observation exercises, the annual Goodluck Jonathan Democracy Dialogue launched in 2021, and cutting-edge work on preventing violent extremism.
“This year in Accra,” Ms Iyonu noted, “our Democracy Dialogue tackled the provocative theme ‘Why Democracies Die,’ bringing together scholars, activists, former leaders, and youth from across the continent to diagnose the structural weaknesses eroding democratic resilience not just in Africa but globally.”
She added that the Foundation has quietly facilitated peaceful political transitions in conflict-prone countries, convened stakeholders in restive regions, and built bridges between state institutions and citizens to restore trust.
“Through research, policy advocacy, knowledge exchange, and strategic partnerships with organisations such as the United Nations, the African Union, and the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, we have amplified African voices on the global stage and contributed tangibly to the security of our people within the framework of rule of law and human rights,” she declared.
As the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation enters its second decade, both the former president and his team insist that their work is far from over. In an era when democracy appears to be retreating in many parts of the world, including parts of West Africa, they see their mission—impartial mediation, institutional strengthening, and the nurturing of a new generation of responsible democratic leaders—as more urgent than ever.
Saturday’s celebration, therefore, was not just a look back at ten years of impact but a renewed pledge to keep faith with the ideals that first thrust Goodluck Jonathan onto the global stage: peace, stability, and the courageous acceptance that power, ultimately, belongs to the people.
