Former Nigerian president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, has said losing the 2015 presidential election was a tough moment in his political career.

While speaking at the 1st Raymond Dokpesi Annual Diamond Lecture in Abuja on Friday, October 25, the former governor of Bayelsa state said that it felt as if the whole world was against him.

Jonathan, who contested the election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was defeated by Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Buhari polled 15,424,921 votes, while Jonathan garnered 12,853,162 votes.

It marked the first time an incumbent president in Nigeria lost re-election

In his words:

“It is not easy to lose an election as president. You will think the whole world is against you. But then, Dokpesi invited me before I handed over. I remember what he said to me when I lost the election.

“There were so many senior Nigerians who spoke. After I listened to all the conversations, he congratulated me and encouraged me to look beyond the election. This is how I commemorated that session.

“That communication gave me hope and helped me not necessarily for the transition hour ahead of me but also in my spiritual life as a private citizen. If you read my book, My Transition Hours, I explain it more elaborately.”