Subsidy protests: Pictures of my mock coffin traumatised my mother - Jonathan

- Ex-president Jonathan said the 2012 anti-subsidy protests traumatised his mother

- Jonathan recalled how his mother watched with sadness the various anti-subsidy protests staged across the nation

- The former president also how his mother watched on television, protesters carrying a casket with his picture on it, and having the inscription RIP

Former president Goodluck Jonathan has recalled how the massive protests that greeted the controversial fuel subsidy removal introduced by his government in January 2012 traumatised his aged mother.

In his new book, My Transition Hours, Jonathan said that he couldn’t imagine the trauma his mother, who was then at the presidential villa with him, was passing through when the anti-subsidy protests were going in different parts of the country.

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The former president said: “The protests continued abated. In all of these, one woman I pitied most was my aged mother who was in with me in the State House. Every day, she watched on television, protesters carrying a casket with my picture on it, and having the inscription RIP (rest in peace). I could imagine her trauma. This is the only woman who had had ten live births with only my elder sister and I surviving.”

Jonathan also in the said that the Nigerian youths group did not join the protests because they were briefed, like other stakeholders, on the need to remove the subsidy.

“The leaders of Nigerian youth groups were forthright on the fuel subsidy issue. They were briefed just like other stakeholders. To their credit no youth or student group joined the protests. Young people were nonetheless recruited individually to join the protests, but not under the banner of any group.

“That helped to minimize the impact of the protests. I have stated that Africa’s hope lies in her next generation of leaders. The behaviour of these youth groups vindicates my opinion,” he wrote.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Ex-President Jonathan accused the opposition state governments of betraying him to instigate and support the protests that erupted after the announcement of subsidy removal.

In chapter three of My Transition Hours, Jonathan explained why his administration decided to remove subsidy.

He, however, expressed surprise that all the bodies, including the governors, allegedly turned against his government and started staging protests immediately the announcement of the subsidy removal was made on January 1, 2012.

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Source: Legit.ng