We Created Room for Vibrant Opposition, Says Jonathan

26 Feb 2015 Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim Insists elections cannot be won through propaganda UNIPORT alumni, NANS declare support for Jonathan, students hold endorsement rally next week By Damilola Oyedele and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The current administration is responsible for creating an environment for a vibrant opposition to thrive due to the realisation that democracy can only be expanded and deepened if there is room for all citizens to assert their democratic rights. Despite the enabling environment for the opposition, the upcoming elections cannot be won through propaganda which the opposition parties seemed to have embarked on. This was the position of President Goodluck Jonathan, when he spoke at the presidential dinner held in his honour by the University of Port Harcourt Alumni Association in Abuja Tuesday night. The president is a member of the pioneer class of 81 of the University. Represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, the president noted that his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is not bothered about the rising opposition movement in the country. “…And that is why today, at times, people wonder or bother about the opposition activities and movements. We created it. We simply thought that except the political space is expanded, we are not heading for democracy. That except you allow people to strongly and firmly assert their democratic rights, participate in democratic process and indeed, enjoy it with confidence, that one day, we will pay for it,” he said. “I want to assure you tonight that the opposition movement as it were today, owe their existence and indeed, their activities to President Goodluck Jonathan. The enhanced political environment is what the opposition is enjoying. If they abuse it, do not mind. It does not matter. It does not challenge us. When the opposition try to make so much noise, one thing we know is that you cannot win election in Nigeria through propaganda,” Jonathan added. The president reiterated that he has no plans to perpetually remain in power, but only seeks to ensure wider participation in the political arena. He added that his transformation agenda had introduced and implemented reforms and policies that would secure Nigeria’s future. The president, whose visit was highly anticipated at the dinner could not make it following the bomb blasts that rocked Kano and Potiskum, Yobe State, on Tuesday, and his attendance at the burial of the 11 female politicians who died recently in an auto accident after visiting the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan. Speaking further in his personal capacity, Anyim recalled that he encountered three Presidents: President Olusegun Obasanjo, late President Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua and now President Jonathan. Of the three, he credited the Jonathan’s administration with properly instituting the fundamentals of democracy. “My tenure as Senate President was greeted by the struggle to guarantee the independence of democracy. Under Jonathan, I played a role in the democratisation process of our polity, which is actually the content that democracy brings to what one asks for. If you do not have the freedom to speak, the basic idea of achieving the fundamentals will be lacking,” he said. The Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, who chaired the occasion, called on Nigerians to judge the administration of President Jonathan fairly, as he, Jonathan, not only ensured access to education, he also raised the quality of education obtainable. He added that with the number of academics who have been sponsored to study abroad under various schemes, the target is that all lecturers in the tertiary education sector would have minimum of doctoral degrees, in no distant future. Shekarau listed some of the achievements in the education sector in recent times to include the construction and equiping of 130 Almajiri schools, establishment of 12 new universities to ensure federal presence in every state of the federation, and provision of research grants for lectures. The president of the UniPort Alumni Association, Mr. Sampson Ngerebara, in his welcome address, said President Jonathan’s achievements in various sectors such as aviation, education, agriculture, oil and gas, power and others have touched and improved the lives of Nigerians. He added that the president remained focused in spite of local and international attacks on his person. “It is not advisable to change a winning horse in the battlefield, Nigeria cannot afford to change you now,” Ngerebara said and urged Nigerians to return the President for a second term in the forth coming elections. Meanwhile, as the rescheduled general election draws closer, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on the same day declared support for President Jonathan’s re-election bid as it plans to hold an endorsement rally next week. At a one-day national students solidarity parley organised by the students’ body in support of President Jonathan with the theme: ‘Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan Administration,’ it said, it was determined to prove that the Nigerian students have the capacity to make or mar who the next president of the country is. Speaking at the event, the National President of NANS, Tijani Usman, said, the country has witnessed different kind of leadership in the country and as such, the country ought to have been more developed than this, but however expressed confidence in the present administration through the transformation agenda of the president. Usman stated that there were various polling units at various campuses and that NANS would do everything humanly possible to ensure that their votes are protected. “Our students will be in school and will man over 2,000 polling units across various campuses. We will make decision to stand firmly on free and fair election, we will stand firmly on one man, one vote.” The president emphasised that past administration inherited the crisis of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), but shifted it further to this present administration before the issue of ASUU was laid to rest. “On that note, Nigerian students say kudos to Mr. President. We are here to tell Mr. President to ‘carry go’. We want to convey a message that the Nigerian students will have a final student endorsement voting mobilisation campaign within the next one week where millions of Nigerian students will converge at Eagle Square to display and prove their capacity that Nigerian students will make a difference in this coming dispensation,” he noted. Usman therefore urged the president to resolve the impending ASUP strike, stressing that the students’ body to would not want to witness another industrial action. He said: “Extend a Needs assessment to our counterpart, the polytechnic students. The federal government should look into the problem with ASUP and the COASUP, at this critical time, we don’t want to embark on a fresh strike, so what is done to the ASUU, should equally be extended to the ASUP and the COASUP, because in this issue, it will cause disaffection among the students because an injury to one Nigerian student is an injury to all.” The president appealed to the federal government to resolve the issue in the next one or two weeks. http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/we-created-room-for-vibrant-opposition-says-jonathan/202735/