PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday, said those predicting and prophesying doom for the country on the basis of the 2015 general election would be disappointed.
Jonathan stated this at an interfaith conference organised by the Interfaith Initiative for Peace, with the theme: “The Imperative of Interfaith Understanding and Cooperation for Responsible Politics,” in Abuja.
He renewed his promise to Nigerians and the international community that the country would be stronger and more united after the elections.
“I once again assure Nigerians and the international community that the 2015 elections will come and go, and Nigeria will stand stronger.
“The Nigerians I know and interact with everyday are only asking for one thing in the elections; transparency, and I have promised them.
“They want to vote and they want their votes to count; they don’t want to be molested, they don’t want ballot boxes to be hijacked by criminals.
“If they are convinced that the process is free, fair and credible, they have no reason to be angry; nobody can fight against one man, one vote, one woman one vote, one youth one vote and government will make sure that Nigerians are not killed during and after elections,” he said.
Jonathan chided some members of the opposition and even labour leaders who were opposed to the deployment of heavy security personnel to protect lives and property during elections.
He reminded them of the killings and destruction that greeted the 2011 elections, including the killing of 10 youth corps members in Bauchi, and vowed never to let it happen again.
The president also emphasised that the governorship elections held in the country in the last four years attested to his commitment to free and fair polls in the country.
According to him, the defeat of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in some of the polls showed that he was not using state security apparatus to manipulate elections in favour of his party as alleged by the opposition.
“My promise of free and fair election is clear. All governorship elections that have been conducted so far, you can agree with me that they have been free and fair.
“I am from the PDP, the ruling party, but I don’t use that strength to make sure that PDP must win by all means.
“PDP has lost elections in Edo State; we lost in Anambra State, we lost election in Ondo State, of course only two days back, we lost in Osun, but we know and we are saying that this country must change.
“The kind of election we had in the 1960s that led to the crisis in the West and threatened the sovereignty of this country cannot come up again.
“Nigerians must vote and our votes must count. If I was interested in manipulating elections, my party would not be losing all these governorship elections. All what we want is credible elections,” he said.
According to him, if he had been manipulating elections in the country, PDP would not have lost the series of governorship elections it lost recently.
He said responsible politics was that of service, adding that anything short of it made politics a bad and destructive thing.
“Politics is all about serving people and if people don’t want you to serve, then go and stay in your house.
“Our states are not our private estates. This country is not owned by any individual. If you are called to serve, you serve and if it is not your turn, then leave. Whenever it is your time, people will call you to come and serve,” he added.
The president also recalled that he had always emphasised that no ambition was worth the blood of any Nigerian, adding that “if anybody wants to be president, governor, senator or anything, he/she should know that the ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian.”
Jonathan also added, Nigeria’s relevance at the world was as a result of its diversity and not because of crude oil.
According to him, Nigeria is being celebrated as a great nation by other African leaders.
On the spread of Ebola virus in the country, the president regretted that the index patient, Patrick Sawyer, came from Liberia to Nigeria with the virus, while he promised that government would do everything to contain the scourge.
“It is unfortunate that one mad man brought Ebola to us in this country, but we have to contain it,” he said.
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