The city of Abuja was agog Friday morning as a group staged a massive solidarity rally calling on Former President Goodluck Jonathan to declare for the 2023 presidency.
The incident happened on Friday in Abuja as the group came out carrying placards with inscriptions such as; ‘Goodluck Jonathan Declare Now, Goodluck We Love You, We Need You Now, Nigeria’s Destiny is in Your Hands,’ among many others, were full of testimonies on the good governance they enjoyed during President Jonathan’s administration.
The group comprising men, women and youths that cut across the six geo-political zones of the country called on Jonathan to come now and rescue the nation from its present predicament.
According to the group leaders, they are apolitical and simply patriotic Nigerians, calling on the former President to come and complete the good work he started.They lamented that the present economic hardship, insecurity, among other challenges were becoming unbearable.
Comrade Sesan Ojo, Organizing Secretary, Nigerian Technicians and Automobile Association, Niger Chapter, said Nigerians need President Jonathan back to come and address the challenges confronting nation.
“We are here this morning to pay a visit to our former President, we are trying to urge him to run for the 2023 presidential election.
“Of course we need him because when he was the president of this country, he was able to manage every aspect of this country very well, and that is what motivated us this morning to come out.
“We need him back to come and address ASUU Strike, insecurity and economic hardship in the country. Today our youths, our children, our brother and sisters are at home. So, we need him back to come and release us as our messiah. Pls, we need you with all our heart desires to come and take us from this state of suffering.
Ebitoye George from Bayelsa State said,”Buhari has ruled this country for 7 years and we see how the country had been. We know the antecedents of Goodluck Jonathan. So we are agitating for him to come back as President in 2023 because we believe in his goodwill and we know that him ruling Nigeria will make Nigeria a better place.
“Since he left office 7 years ago he has had more experience, both internationally, so his coming back will make things better.”
He added,”Goodluck is a man that God has brought to Nigeria to make sure that Nigeria is stable and united. Goodluck has the templates of the economy of Nigeria.
“Goodluck has no spirit of discrimination, he embraced people form the South, North. East and West during his administration and took everybody along.
“Come 2023, we want him to be the President of Nigeria; to come and repair whatever that has been destroyed.”
Others who spoke during the rally include Mrs Blessing John from Imo state, and Mrs Sadiya Abdulrahman from Chibok, Maiduguri who both lamented about the worsening economic hardship insecurity in the country.
However, Mrs Abdulrahman who was emotional, lamented the killing of all her children and family members as a result of insecurity in the North-East.
She therefore called for President Jonathan to come back and save country
Coming out from a brief meeting with committee of friends who paid him a courtesy visit at his Maitama office, Abuja, President Jonathan appreciated Nigerians especially the youths who gathered outside his office while encouraging them to participate more in politics to drive the change they desire.
Speaking on the call by Nigerians for him run for the office of the President in the forthcoming election, 2023, he said he could not give assurance that he would declare, but rather urged Nigerians to pray for a president that would carry the young people along and work hard to address the multifarious challenges bedeviling the nation.
He said,”For you to come this morning in this manner shows clearly that the youths are interested in politics. We have been (saying) that the youths must get involved in the political process, luckily the ‘Not Too Young to Run Bill’ made it clearly that the young people can contest for any position in the government. So, we will continue to encourage youths to get involved in the political process, and as long as many youths get involved in the political process, we will be able to get the government that we want.
“Yes, a couple of them are facing some challenges, some of them started long a ago, and as we live with the interest of the young people these challenges will be dealt with, when you work very hard.
“Yes you are calling me to declare for the next election, yes I cannot tell you Iam declaring, the political process is ongoing, just watch out.But the key role you must play is to pray that Nigeria gets somebody that carries the young along. Somebody that can also work very hard to see that all the problems today are dealt with by the government, and I believe collectively we will work together. I thank all of you.”