2011: We won’t play do-or-die politics -Jonathan

2011: We won’t play do-or-die politics -Jonathan

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Written by Taiwo Adisa, Abuja Wednesday, 03 November 2010

President Goodluck Jonathan has declared that he will not be engaged in do-or-die politics in the 2011 election process.
The president, who stated this in a message posted on the social interaction site, Facebook, said that Nigerians must beware of those who were readily employing tactics of blackmail and deceit to draw attention in the election process.
He said that Nigerians should know that those who conveyed lies and blackmailed others in the race were those who had nothing to offer, adding that Nigerians were interested in what the aspirants would do for the country.
The president said: “I first notified you my friends on Facebook of my intent to run in the forthcoming presidential elections.
Thereafter, I proceeded to formally declare my interest to all Nigerians at the Eagle Square on September 18, 2010. Since that declaration, millions of Nigerians around the world have formed citizen’s movements to canvass support for me.”
The president said that following his growing popularity in the aftermath of his declaration, he had become a victim of mudslinging and blackmail.
He said: “Expectedly, the large following has also made me the target of lies, smear campaigns and innuendos. It is true that I do not own or have an interest in a newspaper, radio or television station and, therefore, my capacity to respond may not be as robust and swift as those who control these mass media. However, I thank God that we have men and women of conscience who also work in these media institutions who love Nigeria and can do what is right. I thank them for towing a different path away from the hurricane of negativism in the polity.”
The president declared: “The presidency of Nigeria is a national and treasured asset and only God and the people must decide who leads the project of protecting and advancing its interest.
“So, when you hear or read falsehoods that I am using untowards means to curry the favour of PDP delegates who have not even been elected or identified or that I am funding my campaign from the Federal Government purse  and such other stories that enter the fertile minds of the mischievous, you must know that their desperation is getting to fever-pitch levels and their project of self-agenda is ready to anchor on the harbour of the-more-of-the-same.”