Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday cast his vote in Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government Area (LGA), Bayelsa State. He frowned at the surge of electoral violence, urging the security operative to arrest the perpetrators. The former President said that the Nigeria is moving forward and some criminals cannot draw the country backward, warning that the world is watching Nigeria. The former President had declared: “The country is moving and some criminals cannot push us backwards. The world is watching Nigeria.”
The former President, condemning the electoral violence in the state, said that ballot papers must decide the emergence of political office holders, and not the judicial system.
The former President after casting his vote with his wife, wife, Patience, in Otuoke, had declared in a media interaction: “I believe that Nigerians have decided that they must select their leaders.
“Any country that the ballot papers cannot select its leaders, that country is doomed.
“So, we must form a system where the ballot papers must decide who leads us, either at the level of the president, governors, and at the level of parliamentarians; not the courts. The ballot papers should select the leaders.”
The former President condemned the burning of electoral materials by thugs in four wards in Constituency 2 in the Ogbia LGA. He urged security operative to arrest the perpetrators of electoral violence in the state.
Former President Jonathan had stated: “In terms of the general security of the elections, it is peaceful here but I am disturbed because, within my local government, I learnt that the state constituency 2, there were crises and materials have been burnt.
“The police must make sure they arrest all those involved. If they feel challenged, they should go to the governor and get the military involved.
“All those involved in that act must be arrested and prosecuted and we are all watching. If the police fail to do that, we will feel terribly disappointed. Nobody should mess up our electoral system.
“The country is moving and some criminals cannot push us backwards. The world is watching Nigeria.”