Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has assured Nigerians and the international community that he will leave power if defeated in the Presidential election which was held Saturday across the country. He spoke immediately after casting his vote at 12.35pm Saturday, saying that though he was in the contest to win, he has offered himself as an experiment to prove that an incumbent can leave power if he loses an election. Asked that given what happened in Ivory Coast, if he will take defeat and leave, he answered "Of course, that is what we are talking about of offering myself as an experiment". He also prayed that to reduce tension across the country and also for economic reason, whoever will emerge winner should do so at the first ballot since it will task the resources of the country to conduct a run off. Jonathan expressed happiness that democracy was deepening in Nigeria since it has become a standard practice for politicians to go to electorate to seek their mandate to rule. "Let me use this opportunity to thank Nigerians for the interest they have shown in the present election. I have been involved in this current elections from the 2003. "I have been involved as Governor and Vice presidential candidate. I am involved now in 2011 as Presidential candidate and I have seen that the interest shown by Nigerians, young and old. "If I have not shown commitment, people cannot come out to do what is right, to come out and choose candidate of their choice, so I am indeed happy that we are consolidating democracy because democracy must be built on a solid foundation. "The foundation upon which democracy is built on is the power of the ballot paper. When the ballot remains nothing, then there is no democracy. You can best describe that as pseudo democracy. "We are now experiencing true democracy where we politicians have to go to the people because the power belongs to the people, it does not belong to those of us that are politicians. Power belongs to the people and it is expressed through the ballot paper. "You can describe it as a new dawn in political evolution. We are happy for Nigerians," Jonathan said. Source: Thisdayonline.com