Former President Goodluck Jonathan has declared\u00a0 that if democracy must
\nendure, the democratic process must be developed in a way that people
\nwill have confidence in the electoral process.<\/p>\n
This is as Rivers State Governor,\u00a0 Nyesom Ezenwo Wike said that the
\nproblems of Nigeria are self-inflicted as they flow from politicization
\nof everything and the promotion\u00a0 of pervasive injustice.<\/p>\n
The Former President Spoke at a Lecture\/Book Presentation to mark the
\nSecond Term Inauguration of Rivers State Governor,\u00a0 Nyesom Ezenwo Wike
\nin Port Harcourt on Monday.<\/p>\n
Jonathan stated that despite\u00a0 the challenges, the country must embrace
\nelectronic voting. He said that Electronic voting is the ultimate going
\nforward.<\/p>\n
He noted that the African Continent must come up with a minimum
\nstandards for the establishment of the Election Management Body.
\nJonathan said for the purpose of confidence building for credible
\nelections, no one single person should have the power to constitute the
\nElection Management Body.<\/p>\n
He said: “We must come up with new standards for constituting our
\nelection management body in a way that people will have confidence.\u00a0 I
\nbelieve in some Quarters what they do is that a body of people
\nconstitute the Election Management Body.\u00a0 It is not in the hands of one
\nperson.<\/p>\n
“When you leave such responsibility\u00a0 in the hands of a politician,\u00a0 no
\nmatter how good the person is, there will be the tendency for people to
\nsuspect that the right thing is not done. When people don’t have
\nconfidence in the system,\u00a0 whatever they do, it is difficult for the
\npeople to accept “.<\/p>\n
He added: “The continental body , African Union , should come up with a
\nminimum standard across Africa for constituting Electoral\u00a0 Management
\nBody “.<\/p>\n
He added that no single official should have the power\u00a0 to appoint all
\nthe Election Petition Tribunals as this erodes confidence in the system.<\/p>\n
“Also, the Judicial Process where one person constitutes all the
\nelection Tribunals to hear petitions is not right. It is difficult in a
\ndemocracy for somebody to be extremely neutral. In one way or the other,
\nsomebody close to you will be in one party or the other. The only way to
\nbe above is to make sure that one person does not have all the powers to
\nconstitute tribunals to listen to all cases”, he said.<\/p>\n
The Former Nigerian President called for the enthronement of independent
\nsecurity agencies that will provide security during elections. He
\ndecried the online video in Rivers State where women were dragging
\nsoldiers attempting to compromise\u00a0 Rivers elections.<\/p>\n
“The African Union must come up with a code of conduct for security
\noperatives that participate in elections.\u00a0 What happened in Rivers
\nState,\u00a0 in\u00a0 a video being circulated where women were dragging soldiers
\ndown from walls was a very sorry sight. When these things are being
\ndiscussed outside the country, if you are a Nigerian,\u00a0 you feel so
\nashamed “.<\/p>\n
The Former President called on Parliamentarians\u00a0 to work towards
\nmodifying National Laws to ensure that what happened in 2019 is not
\nrepeated in 2023.<\/p>\n
He congratulated the people of Rivers State for their total support of
\nGovernor Wike during the elections.<\/p>\n
The Former President said that the Rivers election was a star election
\nin 2019, as it was used to assess the elections.<\/p>\n
“Governor Wike stood firmly. He was courageous.\u00a0 He was a good leader. I
\nurge you to continue with your good works.<\/p>\n
“If you did not impress Rivers people, you wouldn’t have received
\nsupport.\u00a0 Wike tried. He brought unity and physical\u00a0 development to the
\nstate”, Jonathan said.<\/p>\n
In his address, Governor Wike decried the level of politicisation of the
\ngovernance process of the country.<\/p>\n
He said: “Although I lack the intellectual impetus to join issues with
\nthe learned Professor, but for me, Nigeria’s problems, which are largely
\nself-inflicted, can be reduced to two: the politicization of everything
\nand pervasive injustice.<\/p>\n
“Over the years, we have allowed the entire governing system to be been
\ncorrupted by banal politics and the courage to do what is right and fair
\nto all parts of the country had since departed.<\/p>\n
“As a result, we are increasingly become insensitive or rather
\nimpervious to the injustices and the horrific happenings in our country
\nthat have reduced our humanity”.<\/p>\n
Governor Wike said that insecurity\u00a0 continues to thrive in the country
\nbecause the nation has refused to listen to the cries for\u00a0 Justice.<\/p>\n
He said: “In our case, everyone is crying out for justice and because
\nwe’ve as a nation blocked our ears and hearts to the deafening cries for
\njustice, peace has become a rare commodity in our country. a rare
\ncommodity.<\/p>\n
“My take is that we are going nowhere as a country; we will continue to
\nrun round in circles and possibly crash-land in a very hard way unless
\nwe change our narratives about justice because peace or peaceful
\nco-existence cannot be decreed in a multi-cultural society such as ours,
\nor in any society at all. It is only a real sense of justice that can
\ncommand and guarantee enduring peace, patriotism and solidarity in
\nNigeria”.<\/p>\n
The Governor said that he was persuaded to approve the writing of the
\nbook because books\u00a0 document and educate people for the development of
\nthe society.<\/p>\n
He said: ” The essence of this book as captured by the short side of the
\ntitle: Excellence in Governance, is truly captivating. I think,
\n“excellence” as opposed to “perfection” in governance is attainable if
\nleaders care about how posterity would judge them after office.<\/p>\n
“However, since excellence in governance is not a term of art , how can
\nit be measured in relation to the burden of leadership? Is it by simply
\nmaking comparisons between governments, past and present? Or by how and
\nto what positive extent the government of the day responded to the
\npublic issues, challenges and opportunities of the time?”<\/p>\n
Governor Wike lauded the quality of discourse in the book, which he said
\npromotes good governance without any form of sycophancy.<\/p>\n
He said: “I have been managing people and resources as Governor of
\nRivers State for four years and it is only proper for stakeholders to
\nstart to dispassionately interrogate our performance in office, the
\nquality of our leadership and the extent to which we have delivered
\npublic services from different perspectives.<\/p>\n
“This book is therefore, a pioneering effort in this regard from the
\nsocio-legal perspective, which I consider very uplifting because it is
\nnot about self-serving opportunistic claims to the high moral ground nor
\nthe product of sycophantic image laundry and patronage.<\/p>\n
” Against this background, I have no hesitation in identifying wholly
\nwith this book and commend both the editors and the contributors for
\ntheir highly informative and logical arguments that elevated the legal
\ndiscourse round the contemporary relationship between law, leadership
\nand creativity in governance”.<\/p>\n
Guest Lecturer,\u00a0 Professor Anya O. Anya in a paper titled: “Re-imagining
\nNigeria: The Imperative of Democracy,\u00a0 values,\u00a0 peace and National
\nDevelopment in the New Nigeria ” said Nigeria\u00a0 is a country under siege
\nand its people and leaders are in denial.<\/p>\n
He said: “We are at a stage where most nations are in dynamic state;
\nwhere change is the order of the day. The rules of linear progression in
\nsocial and economic evolution have given way to a situation where
\ninteractive forces act as interconnected matrices”.<\/p>\n
Anya said ultimately the forces of\u00a0 peace will prevail despite\u00a0 the
\ninsecurity in different parts of the country.<\/p>\n
He said God will manifest in the end on behalf of Nigerians and stop the
\nhigh level of insecurity.\u00a0 He urged Governor Wike to continue to work
\nfor the peace of Rivers State and Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Book Reviewer, Prof M. T. Ladan recommended the book to all students of
\nlaw and politics, because\u00a0 it captures\u00a0 the need for the development of
\nNigeria by examining\u00a0 the outstanding qualities of Governor Wike.<\/p>\n
He said the book was written\u00a0 by 51 authors with 40 chapters and 735
\npages.\u00a0 He said the lawyers who wrote the book documented the delivery
\nof democracy dividends in Rivers State.<\/p>\n
Book Presenter and Representative of Sokoto State Governor, Engr Bello
\nAlhaji Suleiman described Governor Wike as a true leader who will play a
\nkey role in the future of the country.<\/p>\n
He said Governor Wike has written his name in the sands of time by his
\nsuperlative performance as chronicled in the book.<\/p>\n
Chairman of Inauguration Committee and Former Deputy Speaker of the
\nHouse of Representatives,\u00a0 Rt Hon Austin Opara said that the event is
\npart of the programme\u00a0 to herald<\/p>\n
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has declared\u00a0 that if democracy must endure, the democratic process must be developed in a way that people will have confidence in the electoral process. This…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n