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Former President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday warned against any attempt to introduce a one-party structure into the country, explaining that manipulating the political system for selfish ends will be an invitation to crisis.
Speaking in Abuja during a tribute and memorial lecture held in honour of the late elder statesman and nationalist, Chief Edwin Clark, Jonathan agreed that although some countries have successfully practiced the system, it was carefully and meticulously designed to meet certain national objectives.
The former president stated that the issue of Nigeria slipping to a single-party state has been dominating the news in recent times, noting that it was important that he (Jonathan) contributed to the national discourse.
“When you listen to the news or go through social media, that is one thing that on an occasion like this, one needs to talk about. Yes, countries have practiced a one-party system. It may not be evil after all.
“But Julius Nyerere of Tanzania used one party state to stabilise the country in their early days of independence. His country, just like Nigeria, has many tribes and tongues and two principal religions, Christianity and Islam.
“If he had not done that, some parties would toe the line of region, some on the basis of tribes and unity would be difficult. But it was properly planned. It was not by accident. If we must as a nation go the one party route, it must be designed. It must be planned by experts and we must know what we are going into.
“But if we go through the backdoor by political manipulations, then we will be going into a crisis. So, I will advise that probably in a country like Nigeria, we allow the system to stay as it is, which is a multi-party system. But if we for some reason must go one-party, it should not be an accident,” he posited.
Jonathan spoke against the backdrop of the increasing number of defections from the opposition parties to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which civil society organisations have said won’t augur well for Nigeria’s democracy.
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