In a new interview with Al Jazeera, President Goodluck Jonathan talks about the upcoming elections, the fight against Boko Haram, reasons for postponing the last election date and much more.
Read excerpts from the interview below.
On people commenting on the sudden step-up in fighting Boko Haram close to the election:
It’s out of ignorance. In a political environment, if one party,
particularly the ruling party is going to the left, they (opposition)
would have to go to the right. They must find something. They must have
something to tell the people
On if he is scared of losing the elections: I will not lose the elections.
On the elections being postponed again:
I don’t think so. I believe the elections will be conducted as
scheduled by INEC that is National elections on the 28th of this month. I
don’t see why we should postpone again because I am quite impressed
with the successes going on in the north. There is a misunderstanding
about the postponement. In 2011 we conducted elections in Nigeria, we
had Boko Haram. The fact is that within this period, somehow the level
of Boko Haram within this period was quite serious and from all
indications and from the signals the security agencies got, people are
trying to use them disrupt the elections. In 2011 there were no such
signals and if you disrupt the elections in a number of states
especially for the presidential elections, it will affect declaration of
results. So the security services don’t want to take any chances. They
did not tell Nigerians that they must route Boko Haram 100% before the
elections could be conducted but they want to degrade Boko Haram to the
extent that they would no longer have the kind of strength that they
would come out and disrupt the elections. That is the key thing. In
terms of taking over our territories, yes we will take over all our
territories and very soon there will be no part of Nigeria where they
will erect a flag and say this is a Boko Haram territory. That we will
do but what I am saying is that even if you do that, that does not mean
you are isolated from terror attack. But gradually with improvement in
terms of technology and monitoring we will be able to bring it down.
When we take over all the territories they are holding, they are
becoming weaker, now we will improve our monitoring using superior
technologies to monitor their activities, then we will begin to pick
them and then of course frustrate their activities. So over the period,
it will go. We cannot live with terror. No we can’t. We would stop it
On mishandling Boko Haram: No it is not a question of mishandling. Boko Haram didn’t start with me
On allegations of INEC Chairman possibly being sacked:
Except somebody is insinuating that the Chairman has done something
wrong. You cannot change an officer, except the person has done
something wrong. Government, whether at the federal or state level,
president or governor, does not wake up and change somebody, especially
somebody like the INEC Chairman, except that person has done something
wrong. INEC is a very sensitive body. For me to change INEC Chairman,
Nigerians and non-Nigerians will ask questions. So, you cannot wake up
and change INEC Chairman. I have never discussed with any person on
earth about changing INEC Chairman.
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
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