Former president, Goodluck Jonathan has asked Nigerians to avoid politicians that will buy people’s conscience today and sell off them in the future.
The former president of Nigeria made the call in a paper titled: ‘Lasting legacy: Key to Nigeria’s development issues’, delivered at the one-year memorial lecture in honour of late Captain Hosa Okunbo in Abuja on Saturday.
He explained that leaders of the First Republic failed to unite Nigeria because they were regional and not nationalistic.
However, he argued that the leaders did their best to also position the country for economic prosperity.
Jonathan said, “I believe that the legacy of nationhood and roots of unity were weak at Nigeria’s independence and not much has been done since then to strengthen the base of the union.
“The decision to shift away from the regional arrangement to a national focus, where Nigerians will begin to see their country as their common heritage, need a different orientation, planning, strategy and adaptation.
“My charge to Nigerians is to be circumspect in the exercise of their voting rights. We must shift away from the politics of bread and butter and ensure that we do not elect leaders that will buy our conscience today and mortgage the future of our children and grandchildren. We should endeavour to elect only those that will leave legacies of unity, peace and development.”