{"id":5501,"date":"2017-10-27T04:45:59","date_gmt":"2017-10-27T04:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=5501"},"modified":"2017-10-27T04:45:59","modified_gmt":"2017-10-27T04:45:59","slug":"accepting-defeat-in-2015-meant-to-set-higher-democratic-standard-says-jonatha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=5501","title":{"rendered":"Accepting defeat in 2015, meant to set higher democratic standard, says Jonatha"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ikechukwu Ezeh.<\/strong><\/span>
\nNigeria has to grow the credibility of its democracy to a stage where\u00a0<\/span>we no longer have to wait for court judgments to conclude our\u00a0elections, former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has stated.
\nJonathan made the point at the 6th edition of African Ambassadors\u00a0Interactive Forum (AAIF) and Dinner, organized by African Third Sector\u00a0Resource (ATSR) in Abuja, where he was presented with the \u2018African\u00a0Leadership & Achievement Award\u2019. The theme of the conference was\u201cDeepening Democracy and ensuring human security\u201d.
\nHe stressed that by conceding defeat before the 2015 election result\u00a0was declared, he wanted to set a new standard for the nation\u2019s\u00a0democracy and prove a point that election related litigations should\u00a0no longer define Nigeria\u2019s democracy.
\nHe said: \u00a0\u201cI always say that I reformed the democratic process as\u00a0President in order to consolidate democracy in Nigeria and the\u00a0sub-region. I conceded defeat without a fight because I wanted to set\u00a0a standard for our democracy, going forward. My aim then was to change\u00a0the narrative and prove that election related litigations should no\u00a0longer define Nigeria\u2019s democracy. People must not always go to court\u00a0and obtain judgments before elections in Nigeria are declared\u00a0complete.
\n\u201cWe don\u2019t get to hear about such court cases in mature democracies. I\u00a0wanted us to get to that point in our democratic experience. I thought\u00a0that it won\u2019t be out of place if we got to that stage where those who\u00a0lost elections will be able to congratulate those who won.
\nOpening up further on the real reason for the decision he took, the\u00a0ex-President \u00a0said that his commitment to the protection of lives and\u00a0investments of Nigeria people, their assets and the economy made him\u00a0concede defeat and avert looming crises.
\nThe former President, who was represented at the occasion by the\u00a0former Minister of National Planning, Alhaji Abubakar Suleiman,\u00a0recalled that already some agencies in the United States had predicted\u00a0disintegration following the growing tensions on the land at the time,\u00a0stressing that Nigeria and indeed African continent could have been\u00a0doomed if the Nigeria was allowed to slide into anarchy.
\nHe said: Above all, what that decision did for me and the nation was\u00a0to avert a looming crisis. Given the tension in the land at that time,\u00a0I was deeply contemplative of what would have happened if we had let\u00a0our nation, the biggest black nation on earth, slide into anarchy,\u00a0because of contestations for power. What then would have happened to\u00a0our citizens, Nigeria\u2019s economy and the investments driving its\u00a0growth? I was convinced that the implication for peace and the economy\u00a0of the sub-region and the rest of the continent, couldn\u2019t have spelled\u00a0anything else but doom.
\n\u201cRecall that after the 2011 Presidential election which most observers\u00a0adjudged transparent, with my victory generally seen to have been well\u00a0deserved, crisis and conflicts still surfaced that claimed the lives\u00a0of many of our compatriots, and properties worth billions of naira\u00a0destroyed. I am always saddened each time I remember that among those\u00a0who died needlessly then were 10 youths undergoing the compulsory\u00a0one-year national service, who unfortunately got killed in a State\u00a0where I secured only 16 percent of votes. Before the 2015 elections,\u00a0there was palpable tension in the land, to the extent that some\u00a0international agencies, especially in the United States, were\u00a0predicting the disintegration of the country in the election year.
\nJonathan said further: \u201cAs the President, I always had at the back of\u00a0my mind that it was my responsibility to protect the assets of\u00a0Nigerians and non-Nigerians operating in our economy. These were\u00a0committed investors who had trusted our Government with their\u00a0investments, to be able to provide jobs and improve the lives of our\u00a0people.
\n\u201cThe steps I took while in office and during and after the 2015\u00a0elections were meant to secure our country, consolidate our democracy\u00a0and protect those investments. I thank God that I was able to do what\u00a0I did despite the irresistible force of power, and the usual worries\u00a0about the uncertain fate that might befall a leader upon leaving\u00a0office, especially in Africa.\u201d
\nEarlier, the Executive Director of ATSR, Barr Chijioke James said the\u00a0organization has facilitated the forum to celebrate the fact Nigeria\u00a0was able the get the narrative right in her 2015 elections.
\n\u201cIt is a very positive narrative because of recent the narrative has\u00a0been negative<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ikechukwu Ezeh. Nigeria has to grow the credibility of its democracy to a stage where\u00a0we no longer have to wait for court judgments to conclude our\u00a0elections, former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has stated. Jonathan made the point at the 6th edition of African Ambassadors\u00a0Interactive Forum (AAIF) and Dinner, organized by African Third Sector\u00a0Resource (ATSR) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5510,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5501\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}