I will quit politics if Jonathan joins APC to contest for Presidency – Vatsa
Mr. Jonathan Vatsa, a senior member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has vowed to leave politics if former President Goodluck Jonathan joins the party to run for president in 2023.
The former Niger State Commissioner for Information, Culture, and Tourism made the remark on Thursday in response to speculation that Jonathan will run under the banner of the ruling party.
“I pray it is a mere rumor or fake news; but if former President Goodluck Jonathan accepts to contest the forthcoming election and under APC, then I will agree with a former governor, who once said there is no morality in politics. I will not only leave the party, but I will also quit politics and go back to the farm,” he said.
He said he is aware that the ruling party is desperate not to allow the power to return back to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2023.
For him, “after our seven years of a disappointing performance in all aspects, the option of Jonathan should not be on our table”.
“We told Nigerians in 2015, that Jonathan was a devil, corrupt, and incompetent to address insecurity in the country, Jonathan is from a minority tribe and all manner of propaganda. Seven years after he is now an angel,” Vatsa said.
The former Publicity Secretary of the party in Niger State pointed out that the APC lied to Nigerians in 2015 in a desperate move to get the power by all means.
Such moves, he said, included the threat of violence which has now divided the country along ethnic and religious lines, adding that “this country has never been so divided as it is today”.
He attributed the wave of killings and tension in the country to what he called the hatred campaign by the ruling party ahead of the 2015 general elections.
Vatsa lamented that “today, there is no mutual love and trust among the various ethnic groups in the country, and this started in 2015.
“The desperation with which we want to bring Jonathan back is a confirmation that there was nothing wrong with the Jonathan government, rather some people wanted power at all cost even when they know that they are not competent and capable.”
“I have said it before and I will repeat it again that we as a party have nothing to tell Nigerians in 2023 for them to vote for us because we failed and have taken the country back 20 years. We must apologize to Nigerians because everything is now three times worst than we met in 2015, and that is the truth.
“Since 2015 we have continued to blame Jonathan and PDP for our inability to perform and fix the country, and now we want to give the government back to the same man we accused of destroying this country. This is a huge joke and amounts to taking Nigerians for granted.
“There is a complete lack of morality in Nigerian politics and I will not be part of this deceit. Posterity will not forgive some of us. This country is in dear need of an honest leader,” he maintained.
On the chances of Jonathan winning the election if he eventually declared, Vatsa said “he can not win under APC no matter the amount of rigging. Nigerians can not sincerely vote for APC again no matter who is the candidate. Or is it those that their relations are with kidnappers that will vote for you or those that their loved ones have been killed by kidnappers?
“You can not rig an election when the people are not with you; it is the people that help you to rig an election and the people are not with us right except we are lying and deceiving ourselves that the people are with us,” he submitted.