I pay my respect to former President Goodluck Jonathan for conceding defeat, says President

One year after the 2015 Presidential election and assumption in office, President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday declared that he was shocked that former President Goodluck Jonathan conceded defeat to him. The action, he said, was a great generosity and a great patriotism. He spoke during a Presidential Lunch for State House correspondents at the New Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa.
He said: “I underrated the influence of the PDP for 16 years watching from outside. The experience of the staff, their commitment and zeal is different from what it is now. 16 years of development in the life of
a developing nation is a long time. “This is where I pay my respect to former President Goodluck Jonathan. This is actually a privileged information for you. He called me at a quarter past five in the evening. He said ‘good evening your Excellency Sir’, and I said ‘good evening’.
“He said ‘I have called to congratulate you that I have conceded defeat’. Of course, there was dead silence on my end, because I did not expect it. I was shocked. I did not expect it because after sixteen years, the man was a deputy governor, governor, Vice President and was President for six years.
“For him to have conceded defeat even before the result was announced by INEC, I think it was a great generosity, a great patriotism.
“Abdulsalami recognised the generosity of Jonathan to concede defeat and said we should go and thank him immediately and that was the first time I came here.”