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More Photos from Goodluck Jonathan’s 61st birthday

Family members of former president Goodluck Jonathan, gathered at his residence in Abuja very early, to throw him a surprise party to mark his 61st birthday which is today, November 20th. See more photos below;

Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Azikiwe, former president of Nigeria, was born November 20, 1957 in Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government of Bayelsa State. His father, Lawrence Ebele Jonathan was a canoe- maker and his mother, Eunice Ayi Ebele Jonathan, is a retired farmer.

He was educated at St. Stephen’s Primary School, Otuoke; St Michael’s Primary School, Oloibiri; Mater Dei High School, lmiringi; Ogbia, and University of Port Harcourt, where he received his Bachelor of Science degree, Master’s degree and Doctorate in Hydrobiology and Fisheries Biology.

Before joining politics, he served as a Science Inspector of Education, a lecturer at Rivers State College of Education Rumuolumeni (now Ignatius Ajuru University) and as an Assistant Director at the defunct Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission.

His remarkable political career began with the return of democracy to Nigeria in 1998, following the death of General Sani Abacha who ruled Nigeria as a military dictator from 1993. In the run up to the 1998 elections, Diepreye Alaimeyeseigha, governorship candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chose Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to be his running mate. The Alaimeyeseigha/Jonathan ticket won the election and he became the first civilian deputy governor of Bayelsa State on May 29, 1999. They were re-elected in 2004. Jonathan’s diligence and loyalty to Governor Alaimeyeseigha earned him the recognition as the “most hardworking deputy governor” in Nigeria.

Goodluck Jonathan served as deputy governor of Bayelsa state until December 12, 2005, when he was sworn in as governor. In 2007 he won the PDP Bayelsa State gubernatorial primary and was in the midst of his campaign when he was nominated to be the PDP presidential candidate, Governor Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua’s vice presidential running mate.

The Yar’ Adua/Jonathan ticket won the election. Their victory marked the first peaceful transition of power from one elected civilian leader to another since Nigeria attained independence from Britain in 1960. On May 29, 2007, Dr. Jonathan took the oath of office as Nigeria’s Vice-President, the first time that a civilian from Nigeria’s South-South geopolitical zone would hold such high political office in Nigeria.