Nigerian elders demand "decisive" action from new leader
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- Category: Politics
- Published on Friday, 12 February 2010 21:00
- Written by Admin
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A group of eminent Nigerians, including three former heads of state, met Acting President Goodluck Jonathan Friday and asked him to take "decisive" action on a host of problems, their spokesman said.
The elders visited the new helmsman "to say to him to be focused, courageous, decisive, firm, but fair, honest and just," Jerry Gana, a former information minister, told journalists after the meeting.
At the meeting, the group, led by former military leader General Yakubu Gowon, listed good governance, free and credible elections in 2011, reliable power supply, good infrastructure, unemployment, peace and security as priority programmes for Jonathan's government, said Gana.
"People really want to see action and results on the ground," he stated.
"They want this administration to do everything humanly possible to ensure that elections in
Presidential elections are due in April 2011 in a country which has a history of flawed polls.
On the issue of poor power supply in the oil-producing nation, the group "emphasized that political will should be demonstrated in this area that decisive action should be taken," Gana said.
He said that the group wants the Jonathan-led administration "in the short time to take a few things and do them effectively to ensure results."
Many critics have derided a seven-point agenda drawn up by ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua's government as mere sloganeering.
Jonathan was this week voted by the parliament the powers of acting president in the absence of Yar'Adua, hospitalised in
The elders expressed their deep concern at a spate of assassinations in the country and urged Jonathan to tackle the problem seriously.
"These political killings are getting very, very worrying and the elders really emphasised the need for resources to be deployed to ensure that criminals are detected and punished effectively," he stated.
Several prominent politicians, including a justice minister and two gubernatorial candidates, have been murdered by unidentified gunmen in recent years and police have failed to find the killers.
Members of the delegation include former presidents Shehu Shagari and Ernest Shonekan, former vice president Alex Ekwueme and former defence minister General Theophilus Danjuma.
