"I, Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe
Jonathan have decided to
humbly offer myself as a
candidate in the Presidential
Primaries of our great party,
the PDP." With those words,
uttered at 3:24 pm Saturday
at the Eagle Square, Abuja,
President Goodluck Jonathan
formally joined the 2011
presidential race.
"This is more than a crowd; it
looks like a revolution," he
declared to a full Eagle
Square, moments after
mounting the stage, heralded
by a performance from hip-
hop musician Dapo Oyebanji
(D'Banj).
In his speech, delivered
without notes, Mr. Jonathan
narrated the story of his rise
to power, recalling the "very
trying times" that the
country went through in the
months preceding his
assumption of office, and
thanked "the National
Assembly, [state] Governors
and especially the civil
society and mass media" for
the roles they played in
helping to resolve the crises.
He asked for a minute of
silence in honour of former
President Umar Yar'Adua.
The President cited electoral
reform, improvements in
infrastructure, oil sector
reform, a renewed anti-
corruption war and "bold
steps to confront our
security situation" as
testimony of his commitment
to the "transformation" of
Nigeria.
A copy of his speech went up
on his Facebook page while he
spoke.
Before the speech, several
state governors on the
platform of the ruling PDP,
and senior officials of the
party, took turns to address
the crowd, amidst
performances from various
Nigerian musicians.
________________________________________________________________
UPDATE: It appears that
there were at least two
Teleprompters from which
the President was reading
his speech.
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