A former presidential aspirant, Mathias Tsado, has said that Nigerians focused on the solutions to the hardship plaguing them are the ones driving the push for former President Goodluck Jonathan’s return to the villa.
Tsado, a development strategist, made the assertion on Tuesday during an interview on Channels Television.
He dismissed the claim that those seeking Jonathan’s return are doing so because he won’t be eligible to contest a second term in 2031. According to Tsado, ordinary Nigerians are not interested in the North-South rotational presidency debate, but a solution to the challenges staring them in the face.
He said, “I don’t think ordinary Nigerians are interested in whether power comes back to the North or stays in the South. The history, the performance of President Goodluck Jonathan speaks volumes for itself. People are beginning to see that. They are saying let’s reanalyse the situation. Since the APC came over and took power, everything is going backwards.
“President Goodluck Jonathan has been out of office for 10 years and for every election cycle, his name has been coming up. It means that the people are saying, oh, we are missing something and why wouldn’t they miss something? During his time as president, Fuel was N87 Naira. A dollar was N150 to N190. A bag of rice was not more than N10,000. So, it is not out of place to see that Nigerians are saying take us back to where we were. If you join a vehicle and you say the vehicle should take you to a particular destination. And then the driver seems to be roaming around the street, doesn’t know where he’s going to, I think the natural thing to do is to say, sir, if you don’t know where you’re going, please take me back to where you picked me from. And that is what Nigerian people seem to be telling the APC because sincerely speaking, APC has demonstrated to Nigerian people that they do not have the capacity.”
Tsado said the massive push for former President Jonathan in almost every election circle is a position that most politicians are yearning for, but Jonathan has refrained because he’s not desperate. “In fact, he demonstrated he’s not somebody who is desperate to be in government. You remember when he said his ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian.
“He has not declared that he wants to run for election, but for somebody like me, I am praying for a day that will come that President Goodluck Jonathan will declare and say I want to run for president. And I am appealing to Nigerians who have his contact, those that have access to him should speak to him that look, at this point, Nigerian people today, they need you.”
Tsado added: “As we speak to you today, this is 9 a.m., there are families in this country, millions of families in this country that this morning, they can’t guarantee what they will eat this morning.”
On the argument that what Nigerians need is not a saviour but a strong institution, Tsado responded: “One of the presidents that we have had in this country that has focused on building institutions was President Goodluck Jonathan. He was one person that never dabbled into the judiciary. He never dabbled into what was happening in the National Assembly. And because we were short-sighted, all of us started clamouring for the turn of the General. We thought we needed a strong man. We have had two strong men. Where are we now?”
Tsado said were Jonathan the president during last Saturday’s by-elections, the outcomes would have been truly democratic.
“What we had in the by-elections was more like a local government election where the state governors’ candidates, the state governors’ parties and their candidates all won all the seats. Sincerely speaking, this is not good for our country. This is not good for our democracy. And again, please, forgive me if I take you back to President Goodluck Jonathan. These things were not happening during those eras.”
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Tsado also decried the pervasive vote buying during the by-elections, urging political leaders, civil society organisations, religious leaders to speak out loudly against it.
He said: “I want to make this call to Nigerians, particularly those who are leaders of institutions, leaders of organisations, leaders of religious bodies and leaders of civil society groups, that we should begin to preach to the people. I would love to have a situation where Islamic clerics and pastors will stand up in the mosque, in the church and tell the people not to sell their votes, elect people on the basis of merit, like we have enumerated in the performance of the former President Goodluck Jonathan.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
