Former President, Goodluck Jonathan, on Saturday, December 18, raised an alarm that rich politicians who use the children of the poor as political thugs, are heartless, as they do not consider, “whether they die, or not.”
“I have seen politicians, whose children study and live abroad, mobilise children of others as thugs, during elections.
“They don’t care whether they die, or not. This is against human dignity. We should fulfill our vows as a nation of great people, who love and respect one another, “Jonathan said.
Jonathan, who spoke at the 4th, 8th, and 2nd, combined Convocation and 10th Anniversary of Binham University, Nasarawa State, also disclosed that nobody convinced him to concede defeat to President Muhammadu Buhari, after the 2015 Presidential poll.
During the occasion, the former President, and an ex-Military Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, were honoured with Doctor of Letters, by the University.
While delivering his speech, Jonathan said: “The single act (of conceding defeat) I displayed, has already begun having effects on global politics, as world leaders now willingly concede defeat to their opponents, when they lose elections.
“Let me make it very clear, nobody within, or outside the country, persuaded me to do that. I know it is the right thing to do. My ambition is not worth the blood of Nigerians. It was not just a political slogan.”
The former President, noted that the current economic challenges are temporary, adding that, the country would overcome them with the help of its citizens.
On the 2014 National Conference Convention, Jonathan said he convened the Conference to unite the country, thereby preventing tension and crisis in the polity.
He said, “One of the reasons why I convened the 2014 National Conference, was to come up with a polity devoid of tensions and crisis, a polity that will bring unity to this country, one that will not divide us along tribal, ethnic, and religious line.
”It is my belief that no one’s political ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian, and I am fulfilled knowing that conceding defeat, while the votes were still being compiled, was borne out of my personal principle and conviction, generating positive impact on other nations,” Jonathan said.
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