President Goodluck Jonathan has appealed to Nigerians to forgive him if they were hurt directly or indirectly by his actions during his tenure as Vice- President, acting President and President.

This is coming as Patience Jonathan, his wife said that she has undergone 13 surgeries as a result of “health challenges” and was once pronounced dead.

But at a farewell service organised in his honour at the Aso Villa Chapel in Abuja on Sunday, President Jonathan said that “Nothing is perfect; if you wait for perfection, you cannot achieve anything. No system is perfect. Every human system has an element of imperfection”

He added that those actions were not deliberately done.

“So, for the eight years that I have been here as Vice-President, acting President and President, I can say that no one is perfect.

“We have done certain things that probably we shouldn’t have done, but we didn’t do them deliberately.

“So, for those that we offended, it was not deliberate; it was as a result of the exigencies of the office. “We plead that such people should forgive us; I think we have done our best. You may do your own best and your friends and associates may misunderstand you,” he stated.

Jonathan thanked God and those who stood by him and his family in the last eight years, saying he had every reason to be thankful.

While admitting that public office holders have different roles, the President said no head of government, be it at the national or sub- regional levels, could do everything.

He however said it was normal for office holders to set and achieve targets so that their tenure would be remembered.

Jonathan recalled that when he was the governor of Bayelsa State, his target was to construct two bridges in the state annually.

But he said that that dream was cut short when he was nominated as the vice presidential candidate of the then Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate, Umaru Yar’Adua (late).

The President said although he was leaving as President and his wife as the First Lady, they would not leave members of the Aso Rock Chapel who were relentless in praying for them.

“I believe some of you may even come closer and even do more meaningful things together when we leave office. “The office is quite challenging; some of you may desire to see us but I believe that as we move forward, things will get better.

“I don’t believe that it is only in government that one can do things; outside it (government), you can do a lot.

“The richest people in the world don’t even serve in government. (Aliko) Dangote has never been in government, yet he is doing so much.

“Bill Gates too has never been in government, yet he is the richest man in the world. So outside government, a lot of things happen; It is for us to be committed and be focused,” President Jonathan said.

 Ven. Obioma Onwuzurumba, President’s Chaplain in a short message titled, “To God be the Glory” thanked God for keeping the Jonathan family safe throughout their stay in the Presidential Villa.

Mrs. Jonathan read the first lesson of the service from Numbers 6:22-27 while  John Kennedy-Okpara, executive secretary, Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission read the second lesson from 2 Chorinthians 13:11-14.

The service featured special presentation by the children, presentation by the chapel committee and special prayers for the nation.

A five-year-old girl, Juliet Ishola of the children church, stole the show with a memory verse taken from 1 Timothy 6: 6-7.

She got a standing ovation from the congregation when after reading the verse, she turned to Jonathan and said, “For emphasis, I will take verse 7 of I Timothy chapter 6 again which says “For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we will not take anything away.”

Juliet went on to tell the President, “You seem to understand this verse more than all of us by your reaction to the results of the 2015 presidential election. “God bless you sir for allowing peace to reign in the country.”

The President’s wife however said that said she “disappeared” sometime in January during the presidential campaign in order to undergo yet another surgery.

The first lady said she had a sharp pain on her side and upon examination by doctors, she was told she needed surgery.

But it was kept from the public during the campaign as she underwent the “major” operation in Germany.

On her return to the country, she immediately joined the husband’s campaign, which ended in defeat on March 28. Starting with the song, ‘I will give God my whole life’, she said: “‎I really thank God for keeping me alive.

He is a miraculous God. God is so wonderful in my life because people professed that one of us will not go back. But God has made it possible: two of us are going healthy.”

This was an allusion to previous occurrences in which either the Nigerian president or his wife died in office. Sani Abacha, military head of state, died in 1998, while Stella, wife of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, died in 2005.

Former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua died in 2010, and text messages were being circulated years ago suggesting that it was “logically” the turn of Jonathan’s wife to die. She continued: “I thank God for keeping me alive today.

God is so wonderful. Just two years ago, I went through operations upon operations. Within months, I passed through 12 operations. It is wonderful.

To some people they said she is dead but God resurrected me. God told me my daughter go back I will give you a second chance, go and finish your work. And today even if my husband lost this election I believe God has made me finish the work.

“At the same time this year, while my husband was campaigning, that period was a trying time for me. Satan came in again and those that know the former president and his wife, her corpse was carried out of this place. We thank God that I and my husband are going alive. Thank God today we are [departing the villa] with life and not with death.

Our doors are open. “This campaign period, the devil struck and came in again. In pains I was rushed to the hospital in January and the doctors told me, Mama you have to go for major operation now now. What again? I asked. The campaign was still going on and I wondered how we were going to explain to Nigerians. You know even when you go for check-up, they will be writing in the papers saying all sorts of things.

“I said my husband will continue with his campaign until the last day. That was how I went in for the first major operation in January ending. And by God’s grace I went for the operation and came out and it was from that operation that I went to the campaign ground.

And they told me Mama, there is another bigger operation that you have to go in for. This one would not be in this hospital. It is too small for this type of operation. You have to go to a bigger hospital and I said, Haha. I will go, I have faith in God.

And that my God will see me through. He has brought me out for a purpose. I called my pastor, my praying partner to continue praying for me. They want me to be a sacrifice, but I will never be. “Then, do you know I went to the bigger hospital. I booked for the operation and I was asked to go for the campaign. They gave me a new date. I had paid for everything, remaining just to enter the theatre and the thing occurred to the hospital, Let’s check her again. By then, my husband had lost the election. I have packed out of Villa, we are about going. Behold! I went to four hospitals again in Germany and the thing vanished. My doctors were surprised they didn’t think that could happen.” She did not reveal the nature of the aliment.