This is an accepted version of this page Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan GCFR GCON (born 20 November 1957)[1] is a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015.

In the 1999 Bayelsa State gubernatorial election, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha ran for governor under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party and chose Jonathan as his running mate.

[14][15] For the general election in 2011, Jonathan and Vice President Sambo attended political events and travelled the country to campaign for the nation's highest office.

[22] The Nigerian government contracted for the services of CPCS Transcom Limited, a Canada-based consulting firm specialising in transportation and energy infrastructure projects, to act as the transaction adviser for the handover of state electricity assets.

[23] Historically, the Nigerian power sector has been plagued by blackouts, mainly due to poor maintenance, theft, and a lack of government oversight rooted in corruption.

Economists estimate that power outages have cost Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy, billions of dollars in imported diesel for generators and lost output.

In a study conducted by the World Bank, a lack of access to financing and electricity were cited as Nigeria's main obstacles to development, surpassing corruption.

In addition, Jonathan was alleged to have personally ordered over ₦3 trillion ($15 billion) from the Central Bank of Nigeria to support his election and other self-serving projects under the guise of an intervention fund for national security.

Charles Soludo, a professor of economics and former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, equated Jonathan's financial recklessness to that of former Ugandan president Idi Amin.

The Brookings Institution, a think tank, praised the government's move, arguing that the subsidy crowded out other development spending, such as education, and discouraged investment in the country's economic lifeblood: the oil sector.

[48] In his book My Transition Hours, Goodluck Jonathan stated that the subsidy was consuming too much of the nations revenues and that the public believed the sector was highly corrupt.

Former Petroleum Minister Professor Tam David-West expressed concern that the planned removal of the fuel subsidy will squeeze the economy, increase inflation, and hurt both businesses and the public.

[50] A former military Head of State who was also a former Minister for Petroleum & Natural Resources, General Muhammadu Buhari, urged Jonathan not to remove the fuel subsidy and to tackle corruption.

[52] Former military president Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, joined millions of Nigerians protesting against the removal of the fuel subsidy by the Jonathan administration, saying that the action is ill-timed.

[citation needed] Two months later the United Nations building in Abuja was bombed, signifying the first time that Boko Haram attacked an international organisation.

[72] Following the January 2012 Northern Nigeria attacks, which left over hundreds of casualties, Abubakar Shekau, a former deputy of Mohammed Yusuf, appeared in a video posted on YouTube.

On 8 March 2012, a small Special Boat Service team and the Nigerian Army attempted to rescue two hostages, Chris McManus and Franco Lamolinara, being held in Nigeria by members of the Boko Haram terrorist organisation loyal to al-Qaeda.

[citation needed] In May 2013, Nigerian government forces launched an offensive in the Borno region in an attempt to dislodge Boko Haram fighters after a state of emergency was called on 14 May 2013.

[citation needed] This prompted the Nigerian government to launch an offensive, and with the help of Chad, Niger, and Cameroon, they have recaptured many areas that were formerly under the control of Boko Haram.

[citation needed] In December 2014, it was reported that "people too elderly to flee Gwoza Local Government Area were being rounded up and taken to two schools where the militants opened fire on them.

[citation needed] On 26 January 2015 CNN reported that the attack on Maiduguri by "hundreds of gunmen" had been repelled, but the nearby town of Monguno was captured by Boko Haram.

[citation needed] Starting in late January 2015, a coalition of military forces from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, and Niger began a counter-insurgency campaign against Boko Haram.

[citation needed] On 7 March 2015, Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) via an audio message posted on the organisation's Twitter account.

On 12 March 2015, ISIL's spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani released an audiotape in which he welcomed the pledge of allegiance, and described it as an expansion of the group's caliphate to West Africa.

For example, ISIL's central leadership attempted to reduce Boko Haram's brutality toward civilians and internal critics, as Shekau's ideology was "too extreme even for the Islamic State".

[citation needed] On election day, 28 March 2015, Boko Haram extremists killed 41 people, including a legislator, to discourage hundreds from voting.

[citation needed] By April 2015, the Nigerian military was reported to have retaken most of the areas previously controlled by Boko Haram in Northeastern Nigeria, except for the Sambisa Forest.

[citation needed] Jonathan believed the APC's popularity was inflated, having made his view clear in an interview with The Cable, Nigeria's Independent Online Newspaper in 2015—just two days to the general elections.

[89] In July 2020, Jonathan was appointed special envoy of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)[90] to lead mediation talks during the 2020 Malian protests.

Former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, emerged the APC candidate at a primary election conducted on 8 June 2022, defeating then-vice president Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and a host of other aspirants.