Former President Goodluck Jonathan has issued a statement expressing concern over the ongoing local government election in Rivers State, which has attracted significant attention from political actors. The election, taking place on October 5, has raised alarm due to escalating political tensions.<\/p>\n
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Jonathan described recent political events in Rivers as troubling, especially for those dedicated to democracy and peace. He emphasized that elections are the cornerstone of democracy, serving as the main source of legitimacy for governments and a vital process for citizens to express their will.<\/p>\n
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He stated, “Every election is significant, whether at national or sub-national levels, as it counts as a gain and honor to democracy.” He stressed the importance of state institutions working together to foster a culture of sound democracy, which includes upholding periodic elections.<\/p>\n
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Jonathan also called on security agencies to refrain from actions that could incite unrest. “Institutions of the state, especially security agencies, must refrain from actions that could lead to breakdown of law and order,” he warned, noting that Rivers State is crucial to the Niger Delta, and any threat to its stability could have significant implications for the region.<\/p>\n
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Addressing political actors involved in the crisis, Jonathan urged them to be prudent and patriotic in their pursuit of political ambitions. He also called on the National Judicial Commission (NJC) to address the growing number of court orders and judgments, particularly those of concurrent jurisdiction issuing conflicting orders. “This, if not checked, will ridicule the institution of the judiciary and derail our democracy,” Jonathan cautioned.<\/p>\n
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Drawing a parallel with past crises, Jonathan warned, “The political situation in Rivers State mirrors our past\u2014the crisis of the Old Western Region. I, therefore, warn that Rivers should not be used as the crystal that will form the block that will collapse our democracy.”<\/p>\n
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He called on state institutions, including the police and judiciary, to prioritize public interest and work toward peace, justice, and equality.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has issued a statement expressing concern over the ongoing local government election in Rivers State, which has attracted significant attention from political actors. The election, taking place on October 5, has raised alarm due to escalating political tensions. Jonathan described recent political events in Rivers as troubling, especially for those […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":50938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50937"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50939,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50937\/revisions\/50939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}