President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday declared that he would never be involved in moves to disintegrate Nigeria.
He
spoke when he was decorated with the “Peace-Loving Global Citizen” Award by the
Universal Peace Federation led by Lagos lawyer Mike Ozekhome at the
Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According
to him, he conceded defeat in the March 28 Presidential election in the
interest of Nigeria and that he could not withstand deaths of Nigerians over
his political ambition.
He
said: “I took that decision because I told people around me that no matter the
ambition anybody has, you must have a nation first; and I used to say that even
if I should be the President for the next 25 years, I will not be a happy
person if so many Nigerians are killed because of me.
“One
thing is to hold office; another thing is to be happy to satisfy your
conscience. Yes there are different human beings. If you look at the behaviour
of some people, even among siblings of the same family, some of them could turn
to be Imams or Pastors; while some of them are armed robbers.
“So, if
persons have that characters of criminal or somebody who is very vindictive,
somebody who is by nature doesn’t care that people were dying; then of course
even if half your country men and women are dying, you may celebrate it.
“But
fortunately for me, God didn’t create me that way. And I cannot take it. So, I
believe that for us to hold any office we want to, we must have a nation.
“Everybody
knows about the prediction of Nigeria disintegrating, and anything could have
made that prediction come through; after all we fought a civil war for about
three years before as a nation.”
He
reminded the gathering that his Vice-President, Namadi Sambo and the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) also deserved the encomiums poured on him since his
historic telephone call to congratulate the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari
after the March 28 poll.
The
President urged the incoming government of President-elect Muhammadu Buhari to
appreciate the good contributions of every Nigerian towards nation-building
irrespective of political party or creed.
Jonathan
made reference to the National Conference report which he was looking forward
to implement before he lost the presidential poll in March.
He was
optimistic that the incoming administration would take time to appreciate such
contributions of Nigerians from every part of the country in the efforts to
build a greater nation.
He
said: “We have our challenges, of course, we had a national conference; the
idea of the conference is to look at these weak cleavages we have in this
country.
“And we
just finished that conference and we are thinking about how to implement it so
that Nigeria will become more stronger and united nation. I cannot be a party
to disintegration of the country.
“But
I’m quite pleased with what has happened; we have a country; country will be
more united. I believe and do pray that the incoming government should
appreciate the contributions of everybody and see how we run Nigeria as a
country that belongs to everybody, for all citizens; irrespective of political
persuasion or creed; so that is what I stand for.”
The Nation
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