Jonathan To Ex-Leaders: Stop Abusing Your Successors Former Heads of State ought not to abuse their successors but rather use their experiences to assist them, President Goodluck Jonathan has said. Speaking yesterday during a Christmas service at St. Matthew’s Anglican Church, Maitama, Abuja, Jonathan said those who had been in power should see themselves as senior citizens. He said if anybody is privileged to be a governor or a president he becomes a senior citizen after leaving office and is duty bound to assist in-coming government. He said that was why the Council of State, made up of past presidents and past Chief Justices, was created. “The idea is that they’ve vast experiences in a number of things and can bring their experiences to bear in terms of advising any president at anytime. “But if we abuse ourselves, kill ourselves to be in office, then who will finish serving and still want to attend the Council of State meeting? For somebody who probably abused you through life, it is not possible,” he said. On the general elections coming up in February, Jonathan asked all the candidates not to see themselves as the most qualified, saying Nigerians will decide who will govern them in 2015. Jonathan said they should campaign without sowing the seed of discord, adding that it is the choice of people and the will of God that can make them win elections. He said nothing should make anyone feel that he/she will win elections in 2015. According to him, if Nigerians want one to serve them, one serves and if they want one to leave, one leaves. “It’s not you who is looking for the office to think you’re the best person to be there. Are you the most qualified person even by certificate? Are you telling me your certificate is larger than that of others or you even have more certificates? It’s the choice of the people and the will of God. “If a politician wants to take power whether at the house of assembly level, at the House of Representatives or Senate or governor or president, you don’t sow seed of discord and enmity because of course, it will consume you”, he said. Jonathan said politicians should not to see Nigeria as their personal estate, because it is neither anybody’s business enterprise nor anyone’s father’s property. He said: “Nigeria is nobody’s personal estate, Nigeria is nobody’s business enterprise, Nigeria is nobody’s father’s property, it belongs to all Nigerians. For us who are looking for various offices, we should just talk about what we can do for Nigerians. You can market yourself, but not to sow the seed of discord”. The president called on politicians to guard their utterances ahead of the elections. “For a politician who is even a Christian to stand up to say if he fails election, he’ll form a parallel government. What makes him feel that he must win the election? even me as a serving president, what makes me feel I must win the election, no matter what I think I am...So, let me use this opportunity to plead with you to continue to pray for us that God should forgive us our sins and that is the only way to move this nation forward. God should give us the wisdom to do what is right. All of us who, by divine and the will of God, are still holding sensitive offices, God should give us the wisdom and the courage to do what is right for our people”, he said. Jonathan said he often gets embarrassed when politicians make provocative statements that could create division among Nigerians and set the nation ablaze, stressing that “I don’t think that’s what a leader should do. I don’t think that’s the kind of seed a leader should sow”. He warned against violence in the coming elections, saying those who get to power through violence never end well. “Those who take government by violence, look at African countries, those who kill to take power, they never end well; few cases, yes, probably. In a society, not everybody goes the same way, but on the average, one has recently happened in West Africa”. The president charged Christians to imbibe the values of love, peace, tolerance, fairness and selflessness. Jonathan, who expressed optimism that the current security challenges would be over, asked Nigerians to continue to pray for the nation. “Pray for the victims of terror; we’ve widows, widowers and orphans, some children are just few days old and their parents were killed. So, what’s their fate, their communities shattered, people have to run to different places but that’s the handiwork of the devil. As a nation, we’ll pull through. I thank our religious leaders, Christian leaders and all Christians who constantly pray for this country, especially for me and my family and the government for us to go through. “God bless this country... With the challenges, one would’ve expected the economy to collapse completely and of course, if that happens, people working with government and some of the people with private sector wouldn’t have been receiving salaries or anything. God is with us and in spite of what’s happening, we’re forging ahead and we’ll pull through”, he said. Daily Trust reports that though President Jonathan did not mention any particular individual in his remarks, he may be addressing former president Olusegun Obasanjo and Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi. Obasanjo had of recent become very vocal in his criticism of Jonathan, describing the president’s performance in office as below average, while Governor Amaechi, in November, warned against the rigging of the 2015 elections saying “The only way to avoid a parallel government is to have a free and fair election.”
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 12:38:59 +0000
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