![](\"http:\/\/arewa.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/1520063865_President-Goodluck-Jonathan.jpg\")
<\/p>\nJonathan recalled how he ended up at the Eagle Square as a common citizen after handing over to his successor, Muhammadu Buhari on May 29, 2015.<\/p>\n
Jonathan made the revelations in his new book, \u2018My Transition Hours.\u2019<\/p>\n
The book was launched at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, on Tuesday to mark his birthday.<\/p>\n
The former President also explained why his wife, Dame Patience Jonathan, was not with him at the Eagles Square during the ceremonial handing over.<\/p>\n
The former President reveals: \u201cThe morning of Friday May 29, 2015 began very early. It was the D-Day for the inauguration of the President billed to commence at 10.00 AM.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe event expected to be witnessed by no less than 20 world leaders, was being held at the Eagle Square, Abuja. The day was certainly going to be interesting and I felt ready for whatever emotion came my way.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, after the oath-taking ceremony, I would finally be going home! \u201cThis was an event I had chosen to undertake alone so my wife did not accompany me. Dressed in a black woko, my traditional attire and my signature fedora hat, I walked out into the beautiful sunshine and got into my official car.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe members of staff of the Presidential Villa, including cleaners, cooks, washer men, security men and more, were gathered outside the Glass House, which had become my official residence after I ordered the main residence to be renovated for the incoming President.<\/p>\n
\u201cI bade them farewell and with tearful eyes, they waved at me and in unison chorused, \u2018bye bye Sir\u2019. I entered my car and the convoy moved. I was missing them already. These were very hard-working Nigerians of diverse tribes and tongues who had served their president well.<\/p>\n
\u201cAzibaola Robert, my cousin, had come that morning to move my personal effects to the car alongside Waripamowei Dudafa and some of my immediate security aides. Before I left the State House for the Eagle Square, I had inspected the last guard of honour mounted by the Brigade of Guards at the inner gate of my residence.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was symbolic because it would be the last inspection of the State House Guard of Honour.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy thoughts reverted to the official swearing in ceremony that I would be participating shortly. The convoy came to a stop at Eagle Square and I exited the car. I went on to greet a few people and was thereafter ushered up the platform where I was to receive the national salute.<\/p>\n
\u201cNext on the programme, the commander sought my permission for the parade to begin. After giving the permission I went to take my seat next to the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, and his wife, Aisha and my vice president, Arch. Nnamadi Sambo.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter President Buhari had taken his oath of office, it was time for me to leave. I waved at the crowd. To my surprise, I noticed some of the attendees had misty eyes. This struck me because I believe almost all of them were either members of President Buhari\u2019s party, relatives or friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had arrived at the Eagle Square as President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with the full presidential convoy. After the ceremony, I ceased to be President.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was now like any other citizen of the Federal Republic, boarding my personal vehicle to be driven to the Abuja International Airport for the final part of the farewell ceremony in honour of an outgoing President.<\/p>\n
\u201cPulling into the Abuja International Airport, I was happy to see my wife waiting for me. With her was a joyous throng of supporters, aides, ministers and party members.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe did not have to ask; she knew what I had just been through. She touched my hand gently and together we boarded the flight that would take us to Port Harcourt International Airport.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs part of the inauguration ritual, we would fly the flagship of the official fleet, codenamed \u2018Nigeria Air Force 001 or \u2018Eagle One\u2019. This was significant, as it would be my last official flight.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trip was also an emotional one for me because I had worked with the pilots and crew for the last five years. We were like a family and they were flying me in an official capacity for the last time. Everyone was full of emotions. That flight remains one of the most treasured memories of my transition into private life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has recalled his very final moments as the number one citizen of Nigeria. Jonathan recalled how he ended up at the Eagle Square as a common citizen after handing over to his successor, Muhammadu Buhari on May 29, 2015. Jonathan made the revelations in his new book, \u2018My Transition Hours.\u2019 The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[4384,8074],"class_list":["post-64122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics","tag-gudluck-jonathan","tag-my-transition-hours"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}