A chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Buba Galadima, has said that the escalating insecurity in the country has made him reassess his past criticisms of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
The NNPP chieftain stated this while fielding questions on Arise Television’s Prime Time on Monday.
Galadima said he was once one of Jonathan’s “greatest critics” but now believes the former president performed better in managing national security compared to those who succeeded him.
Galadima recalled that in the buildup to the 2015 general elections, Jonathan postponed the polls for six weeks to address rising insecurity, bringing in mercenaries who, according to him, helped stabilise the country and ensured elections were held in every polling unit nationwide.
He argued that the current government would not take similar steps if faced with a similar situation, alleging that it would instead allow insecurity to worsen in order to manipulate the electoral process.
Galadima said Jonathan’s decision at the time demonstrated a level of “humane” leadership and respect for democratic processes, despite knowing that a free and fair election could cost him a second term.
He said: “I spoke to journalists and I said something. Me that speak to you seated here was one of the greatest critics of Jonathan’s presidency. The way at that time he handled matters, I didn’t know that God will disgrace me to show me that Jonathan was even a saint and a better administrator than those that follow him.
“First, he is a third world leader. The insecurity reached its highest level, six weeks, I mean, some few days to election. And Jonathan suspended the election, put off the election, and took another six weeks and brought mercenaries.
“If this government today has that opportunity of chaos, one or two weeks to election, they will allow it continue so that they can write figures and announce themselves as winners. But Jonathan stopped that election, and he knew for sure that if there was a free and fair election, no incumbent government can get second term.
“He’s an educated man with PhD. He knows that, but because of his humane nature, he postponed the election for six weeks, brought in mercenaries, and within six weeks, those mercenaries stabilized Nigeria, and there was no polling booth in Nigeria that elections did not take place”.