Former President Goodluck Jonathan says the late first President of Zambia, Dr Kenneth Kaunda, gave accurate prophecy on his political progression by predicting 17 years ago that he would become President.
Jonathan said Kaunda, a foremost Pan-Africanist, made the prediction at a time nobody thought that such prospect was possible.
He stated this while speaking at the Second Kenneth Kaunda Public Lecture organised by Kenneth Kaunda Children of Africa Foundation in Pretoria, South Africa, on Saturday.
Speaking of Kaunda’s prayers and prophecy on his political future as of the time he was governor of Bayelsa State, the former president noted that it happened during the late elder statesmen’s two-day visit to Bayelsa in 2006, following an invitation he extended to him to participate in his government’s work against the scourge of HIV/AIDS.
He said: “I must say it now that Kaunda in the early days of my political career, captured my political trajectory to the presidency in an accurate prophetic revelation that has continued to amaze me till this day.
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“In 2006 when Kaunda had ended his visit to us in Yenagoa and was returning to Zambia, I remember seeing him off to the Port Harcourt Airport in neighbouring Rivers State. As he stood up and was about to board a vehicle that would convey him to the aircraft, he turned back and said to me, “young man, you will be the president of this country one day.”
Jonathan, according to a statement issued by his media aide, Ikechukwu Eze, on Sunday, June 18, said when this happened, he and the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Boladei Igali, who was with him “simply looked at each other in amazement, because the presidency was never in our dreams, at that time.”
The former president stated that he “later saw the prediction fulfilled in my life… So I can say that KK (Kenneth Kaunda) was the man who saw tomorrow as it related then to my political future and fortune, as I eventually became the president of my country, four years after that wish.”
Jonathan also charged African leaders to aspire to live up to the ideals of Kaunda who he said was a leading voice in Africa’s quest for freedom and unity, adding that the quality of leadership on the continent needed to be improved to ensure that the efforts of founding fathers like Kaunda towards Africa’s freedom, peace and development were not in vain.
He further urged African nations to forge functional partnerships and work towards the successful implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement to enhance development and economic freedom for the continent.
Corroborating Jonathan’s assertion, the Chief Executive Officer of Kenneth Kaunda Children of Africa Foundation, Sunday Musonda, said he was with Kaunda during the visit.
He said: “I was with Dr Kaunda during that visit to Nigeria. One point I clearly remember was when KK blessed you (Jonathan) and said you would be President of Nigeria one day.”
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