The Presidency said that there is no need for President Goodluck Jonathan to listen to the suggestion by Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, former Minister of External Affairs, to sign an agreement to restrain supporters against violence during the 2015 general elections, The Punch reports.
Dr. Reuben Abati, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, said this in an interview with Punch’s correspondent on December 23, 2014, Tuesday.
Abati was asked to respond to a call by Akinyemi that Jonathan and the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.), should sign an undertaking that they would control their supporters against violence before, during and after the election.
He said: “The President does not need to sign an agreement for him to achieve something that he is fully committed and of which he has been very consistent.
“Free, fair and credible elections constitute one of the major legacies of this administration for which President Jonathan is proud of.
“He proved the point in the conduct of the 2011 general elections and it is public knowledge that every election that has been conducted under President Jonathan’s watch has been successful, free, fair and credible.
“Even when it is an election which the opposition is the winner, he has always been the first to congratulate the opposition.
“In his messages to Nigerians as the head of the nation, he has always called on the professional political class and the society in general to eschew violence because for him, he has always said that nobody’s blood is worth his ambition.”
Abati said people like Akinyemi and other Nigerians should be concerned about those who had openly threatened fire and brimstone over the elections.
He said:“The people that we should be worried about are the people who have been openly threatening fire and brimstone over an election that they have not yet participated.
“You were in this country when one character said that they will form a parallel government. You were in this country when another character said that heaven will fall if they do not win the election.
“You were in this country when some characters claimed that they have already set up a cabinet over an election which they have not yet participated.”
However, it would be recalled that Prof. Akinyemi wrote an open letter to both President Jonathan and Buhari giving suggestions to both of them.
