Kinsmen of former President Goodluck Jonathan have warned politicians against distorting historical facts on the timeline of his presidency in order to further a selfish narrative ahead of 2023.
The ruler of Otuoke community, King Ariwareni Paul, disclosed this in a statement issued in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, which was made available to journalists on Sunday.
The monarch had faulted the claim made in a TV documentary anchored by Don Obaseki titled, ‘PDP 2023: The arithmetic of zoning,’ which stated that Jonathan had governed Nigeria for six years as a president.
He said, “We have read in the news and watched on TV the deliberate misinformation of the public on the political timeline of former presidents, especially concerning the number of years spent by President Jonathan in office.
“The narrative that Jonathan spent six instead of five years as President is a distortion of historical fact and it is expedient that we correct this misinformation for the sake of posterity. Some political hirelings and propagandist have wrongly and treacherously claimed to have lasted six years, ostensibly to agree with their predetermined selfish narrative.
“It is on record that Jonathan took his oath of office and was sworn in as President on May 6, 2010, following the death of his boss, President Yar’Adua. He later contested in 2011 polls and was subsequently sworn into office on May 29, 2011, and he handed over to his successor on May 29, 2015. So how does May 2010 to May 2015 amounts to six years?
“We have observed that an otherwise credible television station has been promoting this falsehood in the form of advert and documentary and we are advising them to retract this error. We also admonish sponsors of the advert to get their facts right and stop misinforming Nigerians.”
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