For the umpteenth time, President Goodluck Jonathan has reminded politicians eyeing his office to exercise patience, saying he is not in a hurry to vacate Aso Rock.
According to him, since the nation’s constitution guarantees the President and the Governors maximum of two terms in office, those jostling to take over from him should allow the people to decide his fate.
President Jonathan who was speaking at a lunch with Nigerian professionals in New York, therefore, called on politicians to stop distracting him from concentrating on delivery of dividends of democracy to the Nigerian people.
He also seized the opportunity to warn those heating up the polity to desist from doing so, adding that they should be mindful of their utterances.
President Jonathan told his audience that “Already, we have a constitution that makes provision for maximum of eight years for anyone who wants to become a President or a governor. There is no President or governor that all citizens vote for but at the end of the election if somebody emerges you must allow the person to work. “If you love your country you would want your country to work. That does not mean that you will not vote against the person if you don’t like the way he works but you must allow him to work”. No matter how you feel about the political situation consider the interest of your country first before yourself.”If you are struggling to enter a house you must not put dynamite to destroy the house. By the time you get there, there will be no house for you to stay. So first and foremost we must collectively build our country. Don’t bother about who is there now because power is transient, very temporary”, he said.
The President disagreed that his administration has not done much in the fight against corruption, saying “so many people are saying we are not doing well in fighting corruption and before you say that, there must be a parameter for judging us. What are the yardsticks they are using to judge us?
“Before the advent of his government, the Federal Government was spending a whopping N25 billion on fertilizer with only a 11 percent reaching the farmers but since the coming on board of his administration, government now spends between N5 to N6 Billion on fertilizer and we are getting 80 per cent reach. If we wanted to continue to steal money or look for money for election, we could have continued”.
