A political group under the aegis of Citizens Network for Peace and Development has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to support Dr Goodluck Jonathan to succeed him in 2023.
While calling on the former president. Dr Goodluck Jonathan to join the All Progressives Congress to contest the 2023 Presidential election, the organisation said it was ready to mobilize no less than eight million Nigerians to vote for Jonathan.
They said that from all indications, Jonathan had the experience to salvage the rot to which Nigeria had been sunk in recent years.
The CNPD also advised the Independent National Commission to ensure that all infrastructure required for a hitch-free process for 2023 elections were put in place ahead of the exercise.
The national coordinator of CNPD, Raphael Okorie, stated these in his speech titled: ‘2023- Goodluck Ebele Jonathan: The most viable candidate’, delivered during a press conference held in Abuja on Friday.
According to him, Nigeria deserves a leader who is respected even beyond the nation’s borders, passionate, and puts the interests of the citizenry above his own demonstrated by the moral principle hinged on nobody’s ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian.
Okorie said, “This is a rescue mission you cannot refuse to lead sir! Finally, we call on none other than our father and incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, who has done so much in his few years in office to throw his support behind the candidature of Goodluck Jonathan, should he accept to vie for the office of the President.
“Coming at the heels of the end of his tenure, we are confident that Jonathan more than any other candidate will ensure continuity, stability, and fair play across the polity. We say to Mr. President that you have sacrificed so much for this nation. Your Excellency’s greatest legacy yet will be in the fact that you left Nigeria in capable hands.
“For us, it does not matter which political party endorses Jonathan’s candidature. He shouldn’t reject APC if approached. Our concern is for him to accept the call of millions of Nigerians to run for office is all that matters!
“We are ready to mobilize no less than 8 million Nigerians towards the 2023 polls. We say so with all sense of responsibility. Having carefully scanned the political firmament in search of a credible, knowledgeable, selfless, trusted, and patriotic candidate to occupy the exalted position of President of Nigeria, it is not in doubt that Nigeria is at a crossroad between discontent, fear, and suspicion and the propensity for peace, reconciliation, and hope.
“Our searchlight has fallen on none other than former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. His antecedents speak volumes. His compassion and passion for peace and Nigeria’s development cannot be overlooked.
“We hereby lend our voice to the increasing calls by various groups on the need for former President Jonathan to run for office. We encourage Nigerians to come together in their numbers to support any initiative that will lead to the return of our much-respected former President to the Office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
“We also call on former President Jonathan to once again avail himself to be of service to the country he loves so much! He should bear in mind the popular Latin saying; Vox populi, vox Dei! The voice of the people is the voice of God!
“Those who vigorously criticized his administration and misunderstood his conciliatory and transformative approach to governance have soon realized that his patriotism and love for Nigeria is unflinching. For President Goodluck Jonathan has shown that the interest of Nigeria comes first.”
