We heartily congratulate former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan over his nomination for the 2025 edition of the Sunhak Peace Award.
It was established in 2015 to honour the legacies of Sun Myung Moon, Founder of the Unification Church in South Korea. The Award, which is described as an alternative to the Nobel Peace Prize, will be presented to him in Seoul, South Korea on April 11, 2025. Jonathan is being honoured for his consistent commitment to peace, mediations and efforts to foster democracy in Africa.
The former Nigerian president and statesman carries out his advocacies through the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation, GJF; West African Elders Forum, WAEF; and International Summit Council for Peace, ISCP, among others. Jonathan is the first African to win the Award and joins other world statesmen former awardees such as former Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, a Korean national and former Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen.
We in Nigeria are particularly proud of President Jonathan for his contributions to democracy, peace and nation building. We are happy to see him join former President Olusegun Obasanjo as an eminent international statesman, making Africa proud and bringing esteem to Nigeria from all corners of the globe.
Jonathan ran the affairs of Nigeria for five years (May 6, 2010 and May 29, 2015). More than any other Nigerian leader, he strived to enthrone genuine democracy and make Nigeria a shining example in Africa and the Third World. Though he did not implement the Justice Muhammadu Uwais Report on Electoral Reform, which called for the transfer of power to appoint the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to the Judiciary, he however chose to appoint Professor Attahiru Jega, a man he did not know, as INEC Chairman.
Jega, a radical academic and activist, was a popular choice. This was quite a departure from the norm whereby presidents appoint known loyalists who have invariably compromised our elections.
Jonathan was selfless. He was a man of his words. He is famous for his pet mantra: “My ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian”. He acted it out during the 2015 presidential election. When he saw he was losing, he called and congratulated the winner, retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari, even before the result was formally announced.
It is widely believed that Jonathan’s willingness to give up without a fight possibly prevented the kind of conflict going on in Sudan which has virtually become a “forgotten war”.
Unfortunately for Nigerians, all those who conspired and plotted against Jonathan to gain power have shown they have little to offer Nigerians except to enjoy the booties.
We wish President Jonathan the very best.
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