President Goodluck Jonathan
yesterday assured that he would curb political excesses overheating the polity
ahead of the 2015 general elections.
Responding to concerns expressed by a delegation of the Nigerian
Bar Association, NBA, led by its President, Mr. Okey Wali (SAN), Jonathan said
that the rising political tension in the country was uncalled for.
“The political tension in the country is mainly built around the
2015 elections which should not be the case. It is quite disturbing. The year
2015 is still far off. I expect politicians to focus on the business of
governance now. We must do what we were elected to do first. We will do our
best to curb the overheating of the polity,” President Jonathan told the
delegation, which included three former presidents of the NBA.
The President also said that he had asked for a detailed brief
on the security situation in Rivers State and assured the delegation that
necessary action would be taken to ensure adherence to the rule of law in the
state and the maintenance of law and order.
Addressing other issues raised by the delegation, Jonathan said
that his administration was implementing the right policies, programmes and
projects to accelerate economic development and boost employment in the
country.
He called for patience from Nigerians, saying that the results
of the present administration’s efforts in areas such as power supply would
become even more apparent in due course.
Jonathan also assured the NBA that his administration would
ensure positive reformation and strengthening of Nigeria’s judicial system,
including the resolution of issues related to increased funding for the
judiciary.
He reaffirmed his commitment to the progressive reformation of
Nigeria’s electoral processes to guarantee that all votes cast in elections
truly count and that elections in the country are accepted by all objective
stakeholders as free, fair and credible.
Jonathan urged the NBA and other professional associations in
the country to find ways of interacting with government on a regular basis,
saying that the associations are established not to antagonise government, but
to contribute to national growth and development.
He accepted the NBA’s invitation to open the association’s
Annual General Conference at Tinapa, Cross River State, next month, promising
to personally honour the invitation if his official schedule permits.
Earlier, Wali called on the President to wade into the political
crisis in Rivers State. Speaking with State House correspondents after the
meeting, Wali stated that it was necessary for Jonathan to intervene in the
crisis and ensure that peace returns to the state and for law and order to
prevail. “We talked about security.
We pointedly talked about Rivers State. We expressed our concern
that we were very disturbed about what is coming out from Rivers State. We
appealed to the President to do all that he can lawfully do to ensure that
peace returns to Port Harcourt and law and order prevails. And at all times the
principles of the rule of law must be adhered to.
We made that clear to the president,” Wali said. The NBA
president noted that the association also discussed other issues bordering on
security, economy, rule of law, funding and the independence of the judiciary.
“We talked about the issue of the independence and funding for the judiciary.
We talked about the rule of law because we believe that that is a strong issue
in any civilised society and we talked about the economy. We appreciate the
fact that the government is working. We have lots of reports.
“But our concern is also that the impact on the average
Nigerian. It is good enough to have the statistics, but we will like it to be
moved to the next level where the average Nigerian gets the impact of what the
government is doing,” Wali added.
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