Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan says Nigerians should be responsible for selecting leaders through a democratic process and not by the judicial system.
He made this statement on Saturday, March 18 after he cast his vote in the governorship and state assembly election.
He and his wife, Patience, voted in Otuoke, in the Ogbia Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.
“I believe that Nigerians have decided that they must select their leaders,” he told journalists. “Any country that the ballot papers cannot select its leaders, that country is doomed.”
“So, we must form a system where the ballot papers must decide who leads us, either at the level of the president, governors, and at the level of parliamentarians; not the courts. The ballot papers should select the leaders.”
Jonathan commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) but condemned the burning of electoral items by thugs in four wards under Constituency 2 in the Ogbia LGA.
“In terms of the general security of the elections, it is peaceful here but I am disturbed because, within my local government, I learnt that the state constituency 2, there were crises and materials have been burnt,” he stated.
“The police must make sure they arrest all those involved. If they feel challenged, they should go to the governor and get the military involved.
“All those involved in that act must be arrested and prosecuted and we are all watching. If the police fail to do that, we will feel terribly disappointed. Nobody should mess up our electoral system.
“The country is moving and some criminals cannot push us backwards. The world is watching Nigeria.”