President Goodluck Jonathan has declared that he is not
ready to join issues with ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo
over the latter’s decision to tear his PDP membership card
openly on Monday.
Jonathan, who granted an interview to a team of Tribune
editors, in Lagos on Thursday, said senior citizens must
always remember the need to keep Nigeria united even
when they have cause to disagree.
President Jonathan stated that Obasanjo remained his
father, adding that disagreement should be expected
between political children and their father.
When asked to comment on his quarrel with the former
president and tell Nigerians exactly what was responsible
for the criticisms he (Obasanjo) had launched against him
in recent times, Jonathan said:
“First and foremost, Obasanjo is a father to me. By
divine providence and the grace of God, I am the
President of Nigeria today. It is not by my strength.
But God uses human beings to actualise His own
blessings on human beings. And He used so many
Nigerians, including former President Obasanjo, to
play one role or the other for me.
“I became the deputy governor of a state, became the
governor, the vice president and president. I have no issues
with him, and I really don’t want to join issues with
President Obasanjo. I think it is not necessary.”
He, however, cautioned those he called senior citizens to
always be mindful of the unity and security of the country
whenever they have cause to disagree.
“But I will use this opportunity, because you asked, to just
plead with my father that he is a leader, a former president
of the country. He has led the country more than anybody
— eight years of democratic governance and almost four
years of military governance. No other person has that kind
of record.
“The stability of this country is critical in terms of the
economy of this country. Rating agencies downgrade
countries that are going into elections because the feeling
is that there would be crisis. When you paint the colour of
instability for your own nation, you are doing so much
injustice to the country because it affects the economy of
the country, not just affecting the country in terms of
security and social issues alone. It affects the economy
directly. So, I plead with very senior citizens that Nigeria is
dear to us; we don’t have any other country than Nigeria.
“So, actions and inactions, or utterances, should be
guarded so that we don’t expose our country to the
international community as if it is a country in danger, a
country that is about to collapse. You are frightening
investors, especially those who invest hot cash, to pull out
their money from the country and that would affect the
stock market and it would affect the economy.
“For one reason or the other, Obasanjo may disagree with
me as his first political son. You can even disagree with
your own biological children, as a human being, not to talk
of disagreeing with your political children. So, he can agree
or disagree with me, but the utterances have to be
managed in a way that it does not affect the economy and
security of this country.” CLICK HERE TO READ FULL AND TOUCHING NIGERIAN CELEBRITIES BIOGRAPHY AND SCANDALS
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