10 things we learnt from Pres. Jonathan’s Tribune interview (READ)

by Kolapo Olapoju

In a recent interview with Nigerian Tribune, President Goodluck Jonathan, spoke on a wide number of topics, ranging from his falling out with former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, the economy, tenure elongation, the ‘one term’ controversy, among other things.

Below are 10 key things we learnt from the interview.

1. Jonathan is more concerned about the economy than Obasanjo

The stability of this country is critical in terms of the economy of this country. Rating agencies downgrade countries that are going into elections, because the feeling is that there would be crisis.

When you paint the colour of instability for your own nation, you are doing so much injustice to the country, because it affects the economy of the country, not just in terms of security and social issues alone. It affects the economy directly. So, I plead with very senior citizens to remember that Nigeria is dear to us. We don’t have any other country than Nigeria.

So actions and inaction or utterances should be guarded so that we don’t expose our country to the International community as if it is a country in danger and one that is about to collapse. You are frightening the investors, especially those who invest their cash, who may begin to pull out their money from the country and that would affect the stock market and it would affect the economy.
2. Jonathan does not want to be an illegal president

Let me assure you again, because you asked, that we will conduct this election as scheduled by INEC and a president will be inaugurated. There is no reason for anybody to insinuate that I want to frustrate elections. So that I would stay for how long? Will I stay forever? Am I a military head of state? You and I know that in the Nigerian Constitution, there is no provision for a president to stay beyond four years once you are elected. So if I stay without conducting election after May 29, what would happen? An illegal president? There is no basis for it. There is not just any basis for it and it’s quite unfortunate.

 

3. President Jonathan has reached a point where Obasanjo’s actions no longer moves him

I don’t feel any difference, because the bullets have been coming over and over for a very long time. So you see, it gets to a situation you become hardened. That is why even in those days when corporal punishment was in vogue, parents were advised not to be flogging their children for all flimsy excuses. If you have children you shout at over smallest things they do, then your shouting at some points will become meaningless; even when they have not really done anything wrong, you shout, they would just say Daddy or Mummy has started again.

They will not feel guilty again, because they don’t know the difference between when they have done wrong and when they have not done anything wrong. They just feel that Daddy or Mummy is always shouting. When you are making comments, they must be targeted at events. But when they become serial, or a daily affair, then they are no longer relevant; then they are no longer helping anybody.

4. Jonathan blames Obasanjo for the ‘one-term pact’ talks

I did not sign any document with anybody and I am not someone who signs documents carelessly. I don’t even make promises to people. I am not somebody who, if you want to work for me, for example, will promise to make you a minister. Some persons can promise three people they will make them ministers. They can promise another three they will be Secretary to Government, another four persons Chief of Staff and promise another 10 the Minister of Petroleum slot. Some people do that to recruit people. But I don’t do that.

I don’t believe in it. I have never signed a pact of one term. I never even mentioned it anywhere that I will do one term. Yes, former President Obasanjo spoke that way, I think the day of our primaries, and he used that to market me and I listened and I kept quiet. It was not proper for me to go there and counter Obasanjo, because I wanted the ticket. I felt that he spoke like an elder statesman and I left it like that.
5. Jonathan would not be contesting if his idea of a single tenure of 7-years had become reality

When I was Vice-President when the late Yar’Adua came up with the political reforms, I headed the committee where the whole political parties came together to submit memoranda. We advocated a single tenure of seven years. That time, we also agreed that a single tenure would be more productive than double tenure of eight years. Because the president would be focused; he would not be distracted. This four-year tenure, if you are completely new, it takes you almost a year to adjust. Then you work for two years. The next year, you waste on elections. The country is losing.

But if we have a single tenure of seven years, yes somebody who is not good may not make the difference, but some people would want to make names. People like me will want to make a name and concentrate on governance issues. By the time you adjust, you have like six years to concentrate on governance. I know what we have done within this space of time. If we have an opportunity to probably add two stable years to that, and you happily walk away, this country will develop more and the tension we are witnessing today will not be there.

People say this election is an ill wind that is coming to this country. If the left wins, there could be crisis. If the right wins, there could be crisis and people are painting all sorts of scenarios. I advocated a single term of seven years. Then I added something that people are misquoting now. I said that I had won the election then. I used one year to complete Yar’Adua’s tenure and I had won election for four years. I said if Nigerians agreed to a single term of seven years, it would not be proper for me to contest.
6. President Jonathan says he was reluctant to join politics

If you listen to one of these Reggae artistes, I think it is Bob Marley, he said if you fight and run away, you live to fight another day. War is politics, even international politics. If you see intimidation and you say because of that you run, then you don’t mean well for your people. I was very reluctant to get involved in politics as Deputy Governor, but that is a story for another day.

When I was approached I said I was not prepared to run for elective office. I was still working as Assistant Director at OMPADEC then, and I said I was not ready but I was persuaded and the day I decided to go into politics, I said okay, I am going in fully. So I have come in fully, at whatever cost. So if I am convinced that what I am doing is right, I will not just surrender because of intimidation.

 

7. The President believes he has given Nigerians freedom on several levels

I have given freedom to Nigerians. Before now, Nigerians don’t talk about voters’ cards. It is from 2011 that we brought that awareness, that a voter card owned by Nigerians must be the potent tool to be used and Nigerians must decide who governs them at all levels. And we tried to stop the old ways of manipulating and rigging elections at all levels, so that Nigerians become relevant in the voting process. But the way some people are saying it, it is as if they created it.

Before 2011, who cared about voters’ cards? You go to a community, one big man has carried away the voters’ cards and other people would go about their businesses. So many senior citizens told me that they never rested until 2011. So we have reformed the electoral process and freed Nigerians. We have now given Nigerians the power to decide who governs them and you want to say I should chicken out so that we go back to the old ways?

Look at the freedom Nigerians enjoy. You abuse the President and I smile. In some countries, you abuse the President, they deal with you. In so many countries, including African countries, you cannot abuse the President and go to sleep with your two eyes closed. It is only in Nigeria that you can do that.

8. President Jonathan is certain that no other presidential candidate is good enough to lead Nigeria

I have not seen anybody that has been presented among the 14 presidential candidates that can run the country better than me. If I have seen any, I would say yes. So if Jonathan is bad, give Nigerians a better alternative. It is not by blackmailing Jonathan. It is not by abusing people. That is no longer democracy. If we are practising democracy, then there must be freedom of choice, freedom of speech. If you take these ingredients out of any government, then it is not democracy it is pseudo-democracy, false democracy.

I am coming from a background of a government that stood by the rule of law. I came as vice-president to the late Yar’Adua who advocated the rule of law and I agreed. I cannot now say that since Yar’Adua is late, I would no longer believe in that philosophy of the rule of law. It is easy if you write something against me for me to ask my security agents to come and arrest you and throw you into a dungeon for 24 hours, so that you know that there is government. Yes, one can do it. But is that what you use power for?

 

9. President Jonathan is not convinced that Muhammadu Buhari can fight corruption

To us Nigerians, the word corruption is very painful. When you tell Nigerians you want to fight corruption, people will be happy. It is like a dummy that you can use to deceive people. I don’t know how old you were when General Buhari was Head of State. He used the same corruption-fighting ploy to chase the politicians away. He said this country was too corrupt; he was going to deal with them and he took over. Some people were given 300 years imprisonment, 200 years imprisonment. But did that stop corruption?

Even the report of Transparency International that has been analysing corruption from that time till date has not exonerated that government. And for 18 months, the country was going down; people were queuing up to buy essential commodities. I was doing my Master’s degree then as I said earlier. Some nights, I couldn’t even read, because I had to go and queue up to buy one tin of milk and one packet of sugar. If you didn’t queue up overnight, the items won’t get to you when they open the warehouse in the morning. By the time they open the store by 8 a.m., the items would have finished before it gets to your turn. So if he had defeated that corruption then, it won’t be with us today.
10. Jonathan assures that elections will commence on March 28

Those of you here, I hope you have your voter cards, because my commitment is that all Nigerians must vote. And I feel sad when people say that only this percentage has collected PVCs, and it sometimes makes me get angry, because I feel that we cannot practise democracy well if people who want to vote are prevented from voting. If you register and you get card and on that day you feel like not going to vote, it is your right.

There is nowhere in the world that 100 per cent of resident voters vote, but the decision to vote or not should be that of the individual. Nobody should be prevented from voting. Those willing and active voters should be able to vote and I want a situation whereby 100 per cent of registered Nigerians will have their voter cards, because that is democracy.

Without that, you are not practising democracy and I don’t want anything that will have the symptoms of pseudo-democracy in Nigeria. We want something that will make the whole world see and know that we are practising total democracy; it is costly and easier for countries that are ruled by kings and queens. But if you are practising democracy, though it is costly and painful, it should be total.

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