What I Planned To Do If I Had Returned – Goodluck Jonathan

BY CAMI EZENWA

What I Planned To Do If I Had Returned – Goodluck Jonathan

It is said that it is for man to propose, and another thing for God to dispose, and former president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan typifies this saying going by his assertions yesterday.

There were things he had planned to do going forward in his government but which were denied him, by failure to win a second term.

Jonathan revealed this much in Abuja at the public presentation of a book on 2014 National Conference,

tiled: “The National Conversation”, which was authored by Akpandem James and Sam Akpe,

The former president, provided insight that truly there were things he had planned to do, but which he could not, because he could not win a second term.

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One of such was the implementation the recommendations of 2014 National Conference, a conference which many Nigerians believed turned in far-reaching recommendations.

It was also believed to provide an answer to some of the socio-political problems confronting Nigeria currently.

“When people say I should have implemented the report of the conference, my feeling is either those people did not understand the political environment at the time, the length of time it would take to implement the report of a conference like that or they were just playing politics with such an important matter.

“Those who are familiar with the process of constitutional review will know that to implement the confab report, a number of alterations will be made in the Constitution which will require the involvement of the National and State Assemblies.

“Such an elaborate review will be termed impossible at the time because at the time the report was submitted in August 2014, we were already on the verge of the 2015 election.

“It is also important to point out that at that time, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwual who was a member of my party — Peoples Democratic Party, PDP —has already moved out with some members to join the opposition.

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“That meant that a reasonable part of the legislature was already anti-government. When you know that your parliament is under that kind of situation, it would have been impudent on my part to take such a precious document, which I considered crucial for development, to a parliament that would not take it into consideration.

“Such a task would require the cooperation of the institution responsible for the enactment of new laws and the amendment of some existing ones.

“There was no way that could have been done. We were also fully aware that segment of our population were already suspicious of the actions of government.

“Our intentions would have been misconstrued, especially against the backdrop of the ECOWAS protocol on constitutional reforms, which states that no substantial modification shall be made to the electoral laws of member states in the last six months before the election.

“When I contested the 2015 elections, my expectation was that I would win a second term within which period I would work on the implementation of the confab report within the four year mandate.

“My first two years would have been dedicated to the implementation of a substantial part of the report.”

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Devolution of powers to states in the area of security and the control of resources among other things, were some of the recommendations of the confab.

Jonathan, one of the most criticized presidents of the country, had at one time while in office, asserted that Nigerians would come to appreciate him better when he would have left office.

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Though he was not physically present at the event, he sent former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim to read his address.