Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has referred to President Goodluck Jonathan as a moving train who was providentially stopped from collapsing Nigeria with General Muhammadu Buhari unseating him at the March 28 Presidential election.

Obasanjo, who led the African Union Observation Mission to the April 2015 General Election in Sudan, spoke at a Washington DC event, saying that Nigeria has been obsessively playing “a dangerous game of moving close to the precipice.”

He said the country came close to disintegration in the run-up to the 2015 elections but switched swiftly to the path of redemption after the polls.

“I hope we will not fall over one of these days,” he said, adding that one month to the election, no one believed “we will have a peaceful election that is reasonably free and fair.”

He made it clear that many countries across the African continent are happy over the outcome of the presidential election in Nigeria, adding that his checks in a number of African countries suggested they were as happy over the result of the election as majority of Nigerians are.

“I have visited six countries since the election, they are as happy about the results as we are in Nigeria. It is good not only for Nigeria, it is good for Africa and I believe it is good for the world.”

Describing his role in the election as that of a person standing on the track of a moving train, the former president said during the countdown to the elections, he faced the option of “jumping off” the tracks or “be crushed” if the train did not providentially get “derailed and stop.”

He said he did not jump and was not crushed adding that “at every stage, there must be leaders imbued with sufficient courage and will to stand firm when you have to stand firm.”

He described the results of the elections as what Nigerians “deserve” though some Nigerians “did not want it.”
Obasanjo was the featured speaker at the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) event titled What is Right with Africa: Reframing Africa’s Leadership Challenges.

He made these remarks in response to a question by Princeton Lyman, a former ambassador to Nigeria.

Obasanjo observed that Nigeria’s tendency to flirt with near-death experiences stretches back to colonial times when it almost cost the country the chance of gaining political independence from Britain.

Recalling colonial-era disagreements over self-rule, the former President said at a stage, advocates of self-rule from the Eastern and Western Regions decided to “let the North go” since their leaders were reluctant to accept regional autonomy back then.

“But reason prevailed,” he said, “East and West got internal autonomy in 1957, North got same in 1959 and the whole country got independence in 1960.”

Listing the 1964 post-election violence in the south west and the 1966 coup d’etats which led to “pogrom and civil war” as other self-destructive phases in the country’s history, the former president remarked that Nigeria emerged from all of these as “one entity” in spite of contrarian speculations.

“Not only did we survive the civil war but, within nine years, somebody from the rebel side, as we called them, and somebody from the vandal side, as they called us, became president and vice-president of Nigeria. Not many countries achieve that,” he said.

Obasanjo described the 2015 election as “almost in the same category” as other near-death experiences in Nigeria’s history.

He said one month to the election, no one believed “we will have a peaceful election that is reasonably free and fair.”

“I think we are now building institutions that can withstand what we may see as danger to good governance in Africa. The election has moved Nigeria one very important step up in our democratic dispensation, process and practice.” [myad]

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Bello Mohammed Adoke has written a separate letters to both the Senate and the House of Representatives asking them to stop further moves to pass the ongoing constitution amendment which he said would be in clear violation of the rule of law and democracy.

Adoke advised both chambers of the National Assembly to halt the constitution amendment process in view of his fresh suit filed at the Supreme Court to challenge the passage of the 4th Alteration Bill to the constitution.

The minister of justice addressed the letter, signed by his lawyer, Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN) to the Senate President, David Mark, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal.

President Goodluck Jonathan had refused to assent to the 4th Alteration Bill on the grounds of the alleged failure of the National Assembly to fulfill the mandatory requirement for the passage of the bill.

Through the AGF, the executive had filed a suit at the Supreme Court challenging the final passage of the bill following the amendment of the constitution by the National Assembly conferring on itself the power to pass an amendment of the constitution without the president’s consent.

Ojo maintained in the letters dated April 22, 2015, that to go ahead with the passage of the bill despite the pendency of the suit challenging the process “will be an affront to the rule of law and democracy.”

The letters titled, ‘RE: SUIT NO. SC 214/2015 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE FEDERATIONAND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, read in part: “In the said suit, the Plaintiff claims for determination of two questions on the constitutionality or otherwise of the procedure adopted by the National Assembly in passing the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Fourth Alteration) Act 2015 particularly as it relates to Sections 3, 4, 12, 14, 21, 23, 36, 39, 40, 43 and 44 purporting to alter Sections 8, 9, 34, 35, 39, 40, 42, 45, 58, 84, 150, 174 and 211 of the extant  1999 Constitution of Nigeria and for an order nullifying and setting aside those Sections of the Fourth Alteration Act.

“A copy of the Court Process is attached to this correspondence for ease of reference.

“In view of this development and the dictates of the principles of the rule of law on which any democratic system thrives, we use this medium to urge that the Supreme Court be allowed to determine the suit under reference before any further step is taken by the National Assembly on the move to pass the Fourth Alteration Act alluded to earlier in this correspondence into law.

“May we add that adopting such attitude will not only commendably be in line with the decisions of the Supreme Court on the absolute need to avoid self-help by all persons and authorities in resolving disputes, but will also yield to the rule of law as espoused in the decisions of the Courts. One of such decisions is the case of OJUKWU V. MILITARY GOVERNOR OF LAGOS STATE (1986) 1 NWLR (pt. 18) 621.

“To proceed with the process of passage into law of the Fourth Alteration Act 2015 despite the pendency of this suit under reference will be an affront to the rule of law and democracy. We are convinced, particularly from the commendable record so far of the current National Assembly that it will not do that.

“May we also use this medium to thank your Excellency and all distinguished Senators for your anticipated cooperation in abiding by the rule of law and suspending the Constitution alteration process in the circumstance.”

The A‎GF, who is the only plaintiff in the suit, wants the apex court to declare the passage as unconstitutional as it was not passed by at least four-fifths majority of all members of each House of the National Assembly as specified in sections 48 and 49 of the Constitution. [myad]

President Goodluck Jonathan has ordered the removal from the streets across Nigeria, his campaign posters, banners, signboards and other symbols.

In a statement, the President said that with the 2015 presidential elections now concluded and the country preparing for the inauguration of a new administration on May 29, there is urgent need to restore the environment in Nigerian cities, towns and villages to their pre-elections campaign state.

He therefore, directed that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organisation and the various associations that coalesced into the Jonathan/Sambo Support Group should immediately begin the process of removing the posters, billboards, banners, signs and other campaign materials in support of his re-election bid which still adorn the landscape in major cities across the country.

The President thanked all individuals and organisations who made sincere contributions and worked with immense dedication for the Jonathan/ Sambo Campaign even as he commended his supporters and other Nigerians for the disciplined, patriotic and democratic manner in which they comported themselves before, during and after the elections.

“Now that the elections are over except for re-runs in a few states, I urge Nigerians to put the recent political campaigns behind them and join hands with the incoming administration in working for a more united, peaceful, stable and progressive nation.” [myad]