Jonathan Says Nigeria Is Moving Closer Towards Dictatorship 

In order to prepare for the year 2023, Jonathan says that Nigerian political figures now have the chance to select a capable leader.

By Omotayo Olutekunbi

Goodluck Jonathan, a former president of Nigeria, has urged political figures to be tolerant of opposing viewpoints, claiming that there are already indications that tyranny may be edging closer to taking hold in the nation.

On August 31, 2022, in Abuja, Jonathan stated democracy is not just about winning elections. He was speaking at the celebration of the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, who turned 70.

Ahead of the upcoming general election in 2023, he added, Nigerian leaders now have the chance to select a capable leader for the country.

Jonathan says: “The task before all of us is not to lower our guard, lest the democracy we cherish today succumbs to threats and recedes into fascism tomorrow, and there are signs already.

“Looking at the states and so on, we are derailing towards quasi-fascist form of government, but democracy is not only about winning elections alone, it is about accommodation. We, as leaders at the center and at the state levels, especially at this time when elections are coming, must accommodate different views.

Jonathan referred to the nation as a “work in progress”. He stated that people like Kukah, who acts as the conscience of the country, must remain in existence in order to continually hold the nation’s development in the mirror in order to complete the task at hand.

“Nigeria may not be where we want it to and should be, but we should not give up or lose hope by focusing on only the negative.

“Judging from where we are coming from since independence in 1960, we may have been moving slowly in our journey of nationhood, but it is a journey of progress, all the same,” he said.

ASUU (Academic Staff Union of Universities) members began a strike under Jonathan’s administration, but he was able to put a halt to it. This was another memory Jonathan recalled.