by ‘Jola Sotubo

The Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, has revealed that criticisms levelled against him do nothing to faze him.

The President, while speaking during the funeral of his mother-in-law, Madam Charity Oba, said that he does not allow his critics to constitute distractions to him.

The Sun reports:

The President, said: “No matter the comments, whether the comments are to the left, the comments are to the right, or at the centre, what challenges me every day is that, the day I step out of the State House, what the present and future generation of Nigerians will remember me for.

“I believe that is what will guide most of us who are holding political offices” He was also of the view that holding political office is like death.

“Why you are there, you are on the stage. The day you leave, what will people remember you for? That has always been my guiding principle,” he said.

Quoting from Ecclesiastics 3:1-5, the president emphasised how there was time and season for everything under the sun, a time to be born and a time to die.

“Well, that very day is probably, the day that was destined for my mother-in-law to die. It is painful but also reminds me about the words of our philosopher… Shakespeare, that we all come to earth and the world, is a stage, where we will all play our part, in one way or the other, to play our part. So, Sisi played her own part. Having listened to her biography and other comments, you have seen that she played her part very well and my conviction, my belief is that, probably, she wants us to mourn her more, and that is why she left us at the time the ovation was still very loud.

“But the moments like this, one thing that consoles me, that I always remember is, the hymn we sang, I think, the second one, that talks about fading away like a star in the morning, only remembered by what we have done” he said.