By Nathaniel Irobi
The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Senator Nenadi Usman, has declared that Nigeria’s democracy survives to this day because of the singular sacrifice made by former President Goodluck Jonathan in conceding defeat during the 2015 presidential election.
Speaking to journalists in Bauchi on Tuesday on the sidelines of the 2026 Goodluck Jonathan Foundation Democracy Dialogue, Senator Usman argued that the former president’s decision to call his opponent and concede even before final votes were tallied averted what many had feared would be a descent into chaos.
“For the first time in Nigeria’s political history, a sitting president willingly handed over power after an electoral defeat,” she said. “President Jonathan consistently maintained that neither his election nor remaining in power was worth the blood of any Nigerian. On the day that principle was tested, he lived up to his word.”
The Labour Party chairperson noted that Jonathan’s unprecedented concession, which drew praise from international leaders including former U.S. President Barack Obama, marked a defining moment in the nation’s democratic journey.
Former military ruler Abdulsalam Abubakar had described the gesture as something never before witnessed in Nigeria, where a defeated candidate immediately calls the winner to congratulate them.
Senator Usman urged today’s politicians angling for the presidency in 2027 to play according to the rules and remember the wise saying of Warren Buffett: “Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
She questioned whether any of the present-day presidential candidates, given the inflammatory rhetoric emanating from various camps, would be capable of making similar sacrifices in the nation’s interest.
On the Labour Party’s preparedness for the next election, the former Minister of Finance asserted that the party is the most structured political party in Nigeria. She maintained that with the combined strength of the NLC and TUC, both constitutional members of the party, no political party is better positioned to show the APC government the exit door.
She enjoined all political parties seeking a coalition to collapse their structures into the Labour Party, describing it as the only opposition party with a realistic presence in the 186,000 polling stations across the country.
This year’s Goodluck Jonathan Foundation Democracy Dialogue, themed “Beyond Elections: Can Political Parties and the Judiciary Save African Democracy?”, attracted dignitaries including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Vice President Namadi Sambo, Governor Bala Mohammed, former Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim, Mr. Peter Obi, and the Emir of Bauchi, HRM Dr. Rilwanu Suleiman Adamu CFR.
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