Former President Goodluck
Jonathan says sit-tight rulers are enabled by people who praise and worship
them as gods.
Jonathan said this on Thursday at
the constitutional term limits summit in
Naimey, Niger Republic.
He also said some presidents hold
on to power for fear of persecution and over uncertainty of what life after
office would be like.
“Let’s create an environment
where people will believe there’s life after office. That if you leave office
you should not be persecuted,” he said.
“The way we manage ourselves as
sitting presidents and former presidents matter. The first line is to reduce
what will make a sitting president afraid to leave office.
“Africans sometimes, we are our
own problem because we always think our presidents are little gods. That
somebody is president does not mean he is God. We have a tradition of
praise-singing. We tend to give our presidents name they don’t deserve.
“We tend to over-praise sitting
presidents and make them think they are little gods. When they begin to make a
sitting president think he is God, and he is the only person that can run the
affairs of the nation; then the person will be there; nobody removes God.
“When you make a president feel
he is god, don’t expect him to leave. The media and civil society must continue
to admonish characters that make presidents think they are the best thing to
happen.
“That you are president does not
mean you are better than others. We citizens of this continent create little
gods, and God cannot leave (power).”
Jonathan is one of the speakers
at the summit organised by the National Democratic Institute (NDI).
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com