Former President Goodluck Jonathan urged Nigerians to defend their democracy from turning into a fascist regime.
During a conference in Abuja on Wednesday to commemorate Bishop Hassan Kukah of the Sokoto Diocese’s 70th birthday, he made the call.
He contends that now is not the time for Nigerians to let their defenses down and permit the collapse of democracy. Jonathan insisted that democracy is still the greatest system for governing a country with a diverse population.
“Obviously many people, especially our youths, are becoming increasingly disillusioned about our politics and democracy,” Jonathan said.
“However, we must remain on the democratic path because it is the only practical way of effectively managing our diversity, developing sustainably, and recording progress as a nation.
“The task before all of us is not to lower our guards lest the democracy we cherish today succumbs to threats and recedes into fascism tomorrow because there are signs, looking across the states, that we are derailing into some quasi fascism.”
He noted that Nigerians must respect other people’s opinions and that democracy is not about winning elections.
Jonathan also discussed the six-month-old strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and described how his government was able to settle one of the labor conflicts in a single evening.
“The society we are managing is quite complex. Now, we are talking about ASUU strike. During my time too, ASUU had four months of strike. Different committees were meeting but nothing was working.
“I said ‘How can our children stay out of school for four months?” Jonathan said at the event.
“So, I had to call a meeting of all the leadership of ASUU. I presided over the meeting with my vice president. The Attorney General was there.
“I said that that night we must solve the problem. The Attorney General was there; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation was there; the ministers of education were there; the labour ministers were there; the finance minister and everybody that had to do with it [strike].
“And I thought that my being there would help us to do things quickly. But we spent the whole night. We finished like 5:30 am and the strike was called off. So, there were issues.”
