BY: Oluwaseye Ogunsanya
Claim:
An X user, @WIZINTHEBEAT, shared a quoted statement attributed to former president, Goodluck Jonathan, claiming that he would have “annulled the 2015 election and nothing would’ve happened.”
Verdict:
Misleading.
Full Text:
An X user, @WIZINTHEBEAT, shared a quoted statement attributed to former president, Goodluck Jonathan, claiming that he would have “annulled the 2015 election and nothing would’ve happened.” but history wouldn’t be kind to him if he had done it.
The post has since garnered over 872 comments,818 reposts and 3.5k likes on X.
FactCheckAfrica seeks to verify the claim because it attributes a significant remark about the 2015 presidential election to former President Goodluck Jonathan. Given the historical and political significance of the election, it is important to establish whether Jonathan actually made the remark.
Verification:
To verify the claim and the authenticity of the purported quote, FactCheckAfrica reviewed reports from credible news platforms and checked the former president’s official media channels. The search found no credible source attributing the quoted statement to Goodluck Jonathan.
However, a further search found that the purported quote appears to be a distorted version of remarks Jonathan made during a media interview he granted in 2025.
In the interview, Jonathan reflected on the challenges posed by INEC’s biometric card readers during the 2015 presidential election, including the failure of the card readers to accredit him and his wife at their polling unit in Otuoke.
Jonathan explained that the widespread failure of the card readers gave him grounds to stop or suspend the electoral process. He, however, said he chose not to do so in order to protect Nigeria’s democracy and preserve national peace.
“In 2015, the INEC card reader rejected many voters in the South, including me and my wife, causing frustration. Meanwhile in the North, instructions allowed everyone to vote without accreditation. So you really see something not quite right. I could have stopped the election,” Jonathan said.
Conclusion:
The claim is misleading. Jonathan said he could have stopped the 2015 election due to the failure of INEC’s card readers, but he did not say he would have annulled the election. The quote distorts the meaning of his actual remarks.
