Politics 2015: Drop Your Second Term Agenda and Become an Instant Hero, Nwabueze Urges Jonathan

[abujagirl]

Professor Ben Nwabueze, Elder statesman and leader of The Patriots, yesterday reiterated his earlier call on President Goodluck Jonathan not to contest the 2015 presidential election, adding that though President was eligible to contest, he should sacrifice ambition for the greater good of the nation and become an instant hero.

Addressing the press after a closed-door session between President Jonathan and members of The Patriots, Nwabueze said, “I still believe that the problem of this country is national transformation. You cannot combine national transformation with contesting election”.

“The two are so different, because once you get involved in the election campaigns you undermined your authority to lead the nation for national transformation and I said if I were the President of Nigeria that I would restrict myself to serving the nation; to transforming this country; to creating a new Nigeria, creating a new society. That would be my concern and I would go down in history as a hero”.

“So if Mr President does that he would become an instant hero in this country, but it is for him to chose. If I were him, I would choose to become a hero, to lead the country into transformation and abandon the ambition of a second term, that is what I said and I still stand by it and that is what I would do if I were the President of the country, but unfortunately, I’m not”.

According to The Citizen, Nwabueze also made a call for a sovereign national congress.

Reacting to The Patriots call for a sovereign national conference, the President said his administration had no objection to Nigerians coming together to discuss how they would continue to live together in peace and unity.

 

[Vunderkind]

"Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

The problem with Nigeria has always been one: Disregard for legacy. It's the same penchant to want to greedily stash as much of the national treasury in your backyard, stuffing yourself on veal and top sirloin beef, the need to taste the best chateau, the need to have the latest Boeing jet in your backyard, the need to have the most talked-about house on Ovation magazine, the need to...

What am I saying? This is not "need", in the strict economic sense of the word. It's greed, shameless, fetid and repulsive gluttony. If we remove such notions for a minute, we would realize that you don't even have to do much to go down in history as a legend in Nigeria.

Yes. Our recent flock of leaders have messed up so badly that if another arises and makes even the feeblest of noble gestures, he would be a hero, sung for ever and ever.

But Jonathan? Pah. Forget it.