Zambia’s 1st President told me 17 years ago

Nigeria’s former President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, has narrated how Zambia‘s first President, Kenneth Kaunda, predicted that he would one day be the President of Nigeria.

Jonathan said that Kaunda made the prediction 17 years ago, a time when nobody could have imagined such a possibility whatsoever.

The former President of Nigeria state this during a keynote address at the second Kenneth Kaunda public lecture organised by the Kenneth Kaunda Children of Africa Foundation in Pretoria, South Africa, on Saturday, June 17, 2023.

His statement was deduced from his personal encounter Kaunda during the latter’s visit to Bayelsa State in 2006, Jonathan recalled how the late President accurately predicted that he would become President of Nigeria.

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.

“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.”

The former Zambian President’s prediction may have come as wishful thinking to Jonathan, given that he was the governor of the oil-rich state at the time and had not dreamt of the presidency.

But, according to the former President, when the prophecy turned out to be true, he and the then Secretary to the State Government, Ambassador Boladei Igali, who was with him, “simply looked at each other in amazement, because the presidency was never in our dreams at that time.”

Speaking further, Jonathan noted that he “later saw the prediction fulfilled in my life. So, I can say that 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.”

Jonathans statement was corroborated by Chief Executive Officer of the Kenneth Kaunda Children of Africa Foundation, Sunday Musonda, who said he was with Kaunda during the visit when he made the statement.

Musonda said, “I was with 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.”

Meanwhile, a statement signed by the media adviser to the former President, Ikechukwu Eze, quoted Jonathan as saying that, “As a young man then, my knowledge of African history was shaped by transformational leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Julius Nyerere, and, of course, Kenneth Kaunda.

“The stories of their resilience and passion for nation-building formed the basis of contemporary African history. Their strides and sacrificial lifestyles towards their continent have produced many benefits for the continent.

“In their prime, these leaders envisioned a continent of hope where its people would be free from every guise of bondage. They committed their lives to actualising their dreams of independence for their countries.

“The likes of Kaunda could have opted to take sides with the oppressors and feed fat on their spoils, at the expense of the freedom of the people who were in bondage. But they chose the altruistic path of pursuing justice, hope, freedom, and good governance for their people.”