Former President Goodlcuk Jonathan took a swipe at president Mohmmadu\u00a0Buhari and the figures the All progressive Congress, APC, led government\u00a0claim represents stolen funds, saying that such cannot be true.<\/p>\n
Jonathan also accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of lying in his\u00a0claim that he was never interested in a third term bid<\/p>\n
The former President who was a guest at an event at the National\u00a0Democratic Institutes, NDI, Washington DC,said figures being thrown around\u00a0by the APC government are staggering and untrue.<\/p>\n
He said the fight against corruption has now turned political as\u00a0opposition politicians are now being witch hunted by the APC.<\/p>\n
\u201cCorruption is now used for political campaign, during the first visit of\u00a0President Buhari to the United States he said that about $150billion was\u00a0lost to corruption, though he didn\u2019t mention me, he said by previous\u00a0administration.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe figures are staggering and untrue, another governor said someone\u00a0stole a million barrel of oil per day\u201d.<\/p>\n
The former President said in as much as he will not join issues with the\u00a0new government, the figures are staggering and untrue, he insists.<\/p>\n
On Obasanjo’s third term plot, Jonathan said: \u201c Of course I was a governor\u00a0at that time but due to strong resistance from the National Assembly the\u00a0third term bid failed.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that Africa needs strong parliaments to checkmate sit-tight\u00a0presidents who influence parliaments to consider amendment to the\u00a0constitution that would extend their stay in office.<\/p>\n
“Changing constitutions to eliminate term limits in order to favour\u00a0incumbents is inconsistent with democratic principles and reduces\u00a0confidence in democratic institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Repressive actions by some of these leaders is setting “a disturbing\u00a0precedent for the region and continent,” Mr Jonathan warned.<\/p>\n
Jonathan said it is not a sustainable path and the reason he is setting up\u00a0a Goodluck Jonathan Foundation to address these issues and mediate in the\u00a0continent.<\/p>\n
The former President who recently led an international observer delegation\u00a0of the Commonwealth to the Tanzanian national elections shared his views\u00a0on the elections and their significance in the consolidation of democratic\u00a0progress in Tanzania.<\/p>\n
He said that the elections in Tanzania was an improvement from previous\u00a0elections held in the country and revealed that the only weakness is that\u00a0once the electoral umpire has declared a winner, the loser cannot contest\u00a0the results in a law court or election petitions tribunal.<\/p>\n
Jonathan also used the opportunity to educate the audience on the problems\u00a0in Zanzibar and how he is mediating in the dispute.<\/p>\n
The event was moderated by U.S former deputy Secretary of State for\u00a0Africa, Ambassador Johnnie Carson,\u00a0 who is now a USIP Senior Advisor to\u00a0President Obama and member, NDI Board of Directors.<\/p>\n
The event also had in attendance U.S Policy makers, think-tanks, members
\nof Congress, and U.S government officials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former President Goodlcuk Jonathan took a swipe at president Mohmmadu\u00a0Buhari and the figures the All progressive Congress, APC, led government\u00a0claim represents stolen funds, saying that such cannot be true. Jonathan…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n