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HOW GEJ LEFT POWER TO SAVE LIVES.


Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman, the immediate past minister of
National Planning on Sunday, November 29, disclosed why
former president Goodluck Jonathan decided to hand over
power to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Abubakar Sulaiman
Sulaiman said Jonathan took the decision in order to save the
lives of many Nigerians.
The former minister explained further that Jonathan had
enough evidence to remove former chairman of the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor
Attahiru Jega but decided not to take such action.
Sulaiman made this disclosure when he delivered a paper on
2015 power transition in Nigeria at the annual Zink dinner
lecture/award in Abuja.
He noted that contrary to what most people think, there were
cases of compromise by INEC, Vanguard reports.

Sulaiman said: “ Few months to the general elections, there were
calls from some quarters for the sack of the INEC Chairman, Prof.
Attairu Jega.
“There were sufficient grounds for such calls but President
Goodluck maintained a position that taking such decision would
altercate the process and create an impression which only an
insider would understand. There were indeed cases of compromise
on the part of the commission, but as the president so wished, let
the sleeping dog lies.
“Invariably, the decision to maintain the status quo in the
commission by the administration was one decision that further led
credence to the peaceful outcome of the electoral process. We
must not forget that the president in his exercise of his
constitutional power has the authority to fire the chairman and
replace him with any of the National Commissioners to preside
over the commission.

“Nobody should be on the illusion that the president lacked the gut
to exercise such power. After all, Gen. Babangida annulled the
June 12 election, thereby depriving Chief M.K.O Abiola of his
awaiting victory.
“It is within context of this remarkable gesture and unparallel
leadership style of the president that I found it disturbing when the
APC led government sometimes grudgingly acknowledged this fact
or believed that it was the external pressure that accounted for such
political accomplishment .”
He pointed out that former president could use his incumbency
factor to scuttle Buhari’s election if he so wishes .
“ The extent to which a political transition is peaceful and credible
depends largely on variance of factors. We have however
demonstrated the import of leadership factor has been
consequential to the outcome of any electoral process. Is it the
leadership that was out to tame the process or the one that respect
the sanctity of the electoral body and other agencies?
“This paper has successfully argued that more than any
government in the past, the Jonathan administration has
demonstrated penchant for rule of law, freedom and untainted
electoral process.
“The power of a president is such that if he had wanted to truncate
the process or manipulate it, he could have,” the ex-minister
concluded.

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