Former President Goodluck Jonathan, apparently, still nursing his abrupt exit from power in 2015, yesterday warned Nigerians against those he described as “killers”, recalling that “they used hacksaw to cut me off power” and urged eligible voters to beware of blood-thirsty politicians desperate for power in 2023.
Jonathan, accompanied by his wife, Dame Patience, handed down the warning at Ibom Hall, Uyo, the state capital at the thanksgiving ceremony as part of activities marking the 35th anniversary of the state creation, yesterday.
According to him, the then opposition had deployed every arsenal including propaganda to rubbish all his people-oriented policies and programmes in order to stampede him out of power and charged eligible voters against the allure of freebies by desperate politicians to make wrong choices in the crucial polls next year.
“Don’t make the mistake of voting killers to power. When I was in power, they used hacksaw to cut me off from power.
“If you kill to grab power, you will continue to kill to remain in power. That was the level of sabotage I experienced during my time as President”, Jonathan recalled.
Jonathan, who had vowed that no blood of any Nigerian worth to be sacrificed for his ambition, said it was time for the country to be salvaged and given a new lease of life in 2023 by electing credible and patriotic leaders.
He noted that Governor Udom Emmanuel, has in the last seven years sustained the legacies of development enunciated by successive leaders of the state and, therefore, enjoined the people to be in the vanguard of ensuring the enthronement of the right choice to succeed Emmanuel, in order to maintain the tempo from 2023.
However, Emmanuel, making his last anniversary speech before his May 29, 2023, exit, vowed to ensure the completion of all ongoing projects started by his administration include the industrialization policy aimed at changing the hitherto civil service status of the state to an industrialized economy “within the lifespan of my administration”.
Governor Duoye Diri of Bayelsa State, who also brought goodwill message from his Edo State colleague, Mr Godwin Obaseki, commended the development strides of Emmanuel in the last seven years and stressed the need for unity of purpose to return to the centre in 2023 in order to replicate the feat.
