President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday affirmed that come May 29, 2015, a new government would be sworn in to lead the country for the next four years. Jonathan, who spoke during a televised presidential media chat at the State House, Abuja, stressed that his government was fully committed to overseeing credible, free and fair elections on March 28 and April 11 that would invariably result in the inauguration of a new administration, This Day live reports.
The president said he was prepared to hand over to a new government if he lost in a free, fair and credible presidential election in March. Jonathan noted that just like in 2011 when he expressed similar sentiments, he restated that he would gladly go home if he failed to secure the mandate of the people for a second tenure, adding that no politician's ambition was more important than the interest of the country.
“If in 2011, I said that I will conduct free and fair elections and if I lose I will happily go home, and it should be recorded that at that time, no African sitting president had lost an election. But within this period, a number of African sitting presidents have lost elections. “But I wanted to create history by being the first African sitting president that lost an election… I said I would be happy to go, that this nation is more important than any human being.
“So anybody who wants to hold this office of the president or any office at all and feels that he is more important than the nation, that is not quite right. “If as at that time, I insisted that I was ready to conduct free and fair elections and if I lost I would go, much less now that Nigerians have given me the opportunity to be here for four full years, so if the elections are conducted today and I lose, of course, we will inaugurate a new government. There is no way I will say if I lose I will not hand over,” Jonathan said.
The president also dispelled rumours that there was a plot in the presidency to sack the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, describing the claims as unfortunate rumours that belonged only to “the garbage world”. “I want to reassure all Nigerians that the elections will be conducted and a government will be inaugurated come May 29, 2015. Let no one be perturbed about the stories that the president wants to send Jega on terminal leave, sack him and appoint someone else. These stories belong to the garbage world, and they are entirely false.
“How I wished Jega were here. I could have asked him to answer that question. One thing about politics or leadership generally is that when you are a leader, you have members who support you. Maybe somebody has been making statements to advance your cause, the assumption is that the person is close to you and is your fan. This Day Live.
Comments
Post a Comment