Emulate Jonathan who sacrificed to save our democracy – Usman tells politicians

By Jude Opara

The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Sen. Nenadi Usman, has urged present day Nigerian politicians to emulate former President Goodluck Jonathan whose non-violent approach to politics helped steady the nation’s democracy.

In a statement, Ken Asogwa, the National Publicity Secretary, Labour Party said Usman who spoke to newsmen in Bauchi, the Bauchi State capital, on Tuesday, on the sidelines of the 2026 Goodluck Jonathan Foundation Democracy Dialogue, an annual lecture series of the Foundation, stated that Nigeria’s democracy overcame the doomsday predictions of some analysts in 2015 because Jonathan against all odds conceded defeat, even before the final votes were calculated.

She added that such a principled approach to politics had never before been witnessed on the Nigerian political ecosystem, and that from inception the former President, consistently said that neither his political ambition does not equal the blood of any Nigerian.

“While imploring politicians angling for the same office in 2027 to play according to the rules, Senator Usman enjoined today’s politicians to remember the eternal wise saying of Warren Buffett that someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.

“She said the democracy Nigerians practise today has survived till this day because Jonathan made sacrifices in the past. She wondered, given the enormity of inflammatory rhetoric coming from the camps of political parties, if any of the present-day presidential candidates would be capable of making such sacrifices in the interest of the nation”.

On the prospects of the Labour Party in the 2027 elections, the former federal lawmaker said that the party is the most structured political party in Nigeria ahead of the forthcoming general elections.

According to her, the combined strength of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), who are constitutional members of the party, no Nigerian political party is better positioned to show the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) government the exit door.

Usman further urged all political parties seeking a coalition to collapse and subsume their structures into the Labour Party, insisting that it remains the only opposition political party with a realistic presence in the 186,000 polling stations across the country.

This year’s Goodluck Jonathan Foundation Democracy Dialogue, themed “Beyond Elections: Can Political Parties and the Judiciary Save African Democracy?”, held in Bauchi State, attracted guests from across the country and beyond, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo; founder of the Foundation, former President Goodluck Jonathan; former Vice President Namadi Sambo; Governor Bala Mohammed; former Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim; Mr. Peter Obi; former governor Jonah David Jang of Plateau State; Labour Party National Chairman, Senator Nenadi Usman; APC Deputy National Chairman, South, Dr. Ben Nwoye; HRM Dr. Rilwanu Suleiman Adamu CFR, Emir of Bauchi, amongst several other dignitaries.