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President Goodluck Jonathan has declared that the popular and democratic electoral mandate given him by Nigerians saved his job during the subsidy removal protests in the country early this year.
The President was speaking in Freetown, Sierra Leone when he met
with chairman of the country's National Electoral Commission (NEC), Madam
Christina Thorpe, as well as chairmen and some presidential candidates of
political parties contesting in the Sierra Leone's general elections coming up
on November 17 this year.
Jonathan spoke in line with his admonition to the political
class, to jointly ensure free and fair polls as such this guarantee their
popularity with the electorate and the ability to gain the people's confidence
when taking take strong decisions in tumultuous times.
According to the President, the crises that engulfed Nigeria
when he attempted to remove petroleum subsidy last January would have seen him
removed from office if not that the majority of citizens who voted for him
refused to be coerced or deceived into demanding for a regime change instead of
reversal of the policy.
"In Nigeria, I remember the fuel subsidy crisis all over
the country, I could have been removed but I was confident of my mandate. When
some people started talking of regime change, majority of the people who voted
for me insisted that they elected me and what they are asking for is change of
policy, not regime change; and that calmed down the situation.
"Credible elections give you the mandate of the people and
confidence too. It is difficult to calm people down when elections are
manipulated", he said.
Lecturing his audience on the need for credible polls, President
Jonathan enthused that he would not be in Sierra Leone to preach free and fair
polls if he had not successfully done same in Nigeria. According to him
"If we had manipulated elections in Nigeria, I would not have had the
courage to come and confront you. If I had manipulated myself into office,
there is no way I would come and sell to you what I do not have".
He tasked Sierra Leone's ruling party, the All Peoples Congress
(APC) to ensure a level playing field that will bring about acceptable
elections as the party stands to reap immensely in terms of credibility from
such action. Ruling simply by might is primitive and does not ensure stable
polity, stressed Jonathan who pledged more of Nigeria's assistance towards
successful elections in Sierra Leone.
Nigeria had earlier donated 25 operational vehicles and $1
million to Sierra Leone, and trained some of their electoral officials in
Nigeria towards the conduct of the polls. Many of the political parties'
chieftains requested for more assistance from Nigeria, including providing
subventions to the parties to enable them withstand the financial might of the
bigger parties.
Jonathan was also formally bestowed with that country's highest
national honour of Grand Commander of the Republic of Sierra Leone (GCRSL)
awarded to him during Sierra Leone's 51st Independence Anniversary in April. He
thanked the people of Sierra Leone for the honour and assured that Nigeria
would continue to give as much assistance it could to them as the relationship
between both countries grow stronger. The award, according to President Bai
Koroma, was given to Jonathan in recognition of his and Nigeria's invaluable
support for and timely intervention during difficult times in Sierra Leone.
"We as a nation are very grateful. This is the crowning of
our bilateral relations and your personal assistance to Sierra Leone",
Koroma said.