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.
He
alleged that there was also “abuse of the judicial process,” which he said, had
resulted in disobedience to court pronouncements.
However,
the Executive Director of the Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic
Education, Dr. Ibrahim Zikirulahi, expressed a different view.
He
said, “Ex-President Jonathan claimed there was more freedom under his
regime. Is it freedom to steal our collective wealth? Is it freedom to
criminality and terror or freedom to political assassination? With the heinous
crime committed against the Nigerian state under Jonathan’s watch, it is
shameless on the part of the ex-President to make those provocative statements.
“There
are no political detainees and no political exiles in Nigeria today. What we
have are those hunted by their corrupt practices while they were in office
under ex-President Jonathan.”
Attempts
to get a reaction from the Presidency did not yield results. The Special
Adviser to the President (Media), Mr. Femi Adesina, told one of our
correspondents that he was boarding a flight and was not in a position to
speak.
Calls to
the mobile telephone of the Senior Assistant to the President (Media), Mallam
Garba Shehu, were neither picked nor returned as of the time of filing this
report.
Source:The
Punch
Tags
Politics