Jonathan: Days of election rigging over in Nigeria

•Says unemployment could spell doom for Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan has declared that the days of election rigging are over in Nigeria. The president was speaking in Washington DC on Monday at a meeting with Nigerian professionals in the United States. According to him, the days when a few politicians, acting in concert with their […]

•Says unemployment could spell doom for Nigeria
President Goodluck Jonathan has declared that the days of election rigging are over in Nigeria.

The president was speaking in Washington DC on Monday at a meeting with Nigerian professionals in the United States.

According to him, the days when a few politicians, acting in concert with their hirelings and thugs, can hijack voters cards and other electoral materials, and manipulate the outcome of elections to their personal advantage are gone forever in Nigeria.

Jonathan, who is participating in a three-day United States-African Leaders Summit holding in Washington DC, reiterated his commitment to fulfilling the promise he made in 2011 that he would do everything possible to ensure free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria.

He said in keeping with his pledge which, he claimed, had been fulfilled in recent elections in Edo, Ondo and Ekiti States; his administration would take all necessary steps to prevent individuals, groups or political parties from thwarting the legitimate choice of genuine voters in Saturday’s gubernatorial election in Osun State.

The president emphatically assured the gathering that the Osun governorship election would be free, fair and credible.

He said: “I promise you that the Osun governorship elections will be very free, fair and credible. The issue of credible elections must be institutionalised in Nigeria. Our electoral processes were not very good or credible when we came into office, but as I promised, we’ve been working very hard to change things and ensure that our elections are more credible, that every legitimate vote counts and that results are acceptable to the electorate”.

Speaking further, Jonathan said Nigeria would be in trouble unless enough jobs are created for the nation’s youths.

Assuring that his administration would continue to give the highest possible priority to policies and programmes that would pave way for job creation, he said: “Job creation is a challenge to every government in the world. We’re doing all we can to tackle the problem in Nigeria because we know that we’ve a very youthful population, and if we don’t create enough jobs to meet their needs, the country will be in trouble”.

Thanking Nigerian professionals abroad for their patriotic support to his government, Jonathan urged them to continue to show love and concern for the well-being of their fatherland.

“We expect you continue to add more value to what we’re doing and we’ll continue to engage your services and expertise when we can, because if we don’t, the valuable education and skills you’ve acquired will be of no benefit to the development of our country,” he said.

He later received and commended young Nigerians participating in the Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, a leadership programme sponsored by the US government to train young African professionals in American universities, government departments and private sector.

Out of the 500 places on the programme, 45 were won by young Nigerians in a competitive selection process.