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| Jonathan Goodluck |
Former President Goodluck Jonathan said decisions taken by his administration were guided by the overall interest of the nation and not ethno-religious or personal considerations.
Jonathan said this during the Nigerian
Lawyers Association’s annual dinner and merit awards ceremony held in
New York, on Saturday.
He noted that Nigeria belongs to all
Nigerians and as such leaders must resist anything that might want to
make them pursue a regional or narrow agenda.
The former President’s whose comments
were tweeted on his tweeter handle @GEJonathan, also reeled out what he
said were his administration’s achievements in promoting democracy and
the rule of law.
Jonathan, who spoke on the theme,
“Diversity as our Bridge to Tomorrow,” said in one tweet, “No matter
what my critics said about me, I ensured that there was both freedom of
speech and freedom after the speech.”
In other tweets he said, “Under my
watch, not a single Nigerian was sent to prison because of anything they
wrote or said about me or the administration. Nigeria had neither
political prisoners nor political exile under my administration. We
enacted the Freedom of Information Act and by that we tore the veil of
secrecy covering governance.”
Perhaps in a veiled reference to the
face-off between security agencies and some judges over allegations of
corruption, Jonathan said, “We gave institutions unlimited freedom and
ensured that the NBA (Nigerian Bar Association) and other professional
institutions were devoid of any government influence, we enacted the
Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 to promote efficient
management of criminal justice institutions in Nigeria.”
He also used the opportunity to tell his
guests that he could not be accused of nepotism because “most of my
principal aides in government hailed from different ethnic
nationalities.”
On appointments into the nation’s
electoral management body, Jonathan said, “We ensured that appointments
into INEC were not based on personal relationships.”
He enjoined Nigerians in the Diaspora
especially those in the United States to continue to give support to
democratic governance back home. Although Jonathan did not mention any
Nigerian being incarcerated for holding an opposing political view to
the administration which succeeded him, it is common knowledge that
several of his former aides and political associates are currently in
custody on corruption related charges.
As at the last count, the nation’s
former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), his
spokesman, Reuben Abati, ex-National Publicity Secretary of the PDP,
Olisa Metuh and a former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu
Obanikoro, are being detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission on corruption charges.
There have been cases of bloggers and a
print journalist in Kaduna who were detained on charges bordering on
their views considered critical to those in power.
The Leader of the opposition in the
House of Representatives, Mr. Leo Ogor, in his reaction to the
development said Nigerians had come under threat since President
Muhammadu Buhari came into power.
Source: Punch Newspaper
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