Former President Goodluck Jonathan, has warned politicians not to blackmail or squeeze the judiciary and the society, or else they risk a revolt from young Nigerians, Igbere TV reports.
In a video seen on social media, the former President was seen speaking at an event, admonishing the audience on the importance of keeping the rule of law.
He said: “While we are doing the job that we are meant to do, let us not, because the judiciary is very conservative, try to blackmail them or squeeze them. Sometimes when we have political power, we become so blinded, especially when you are in the security forces. But society is changing, so we must admonish ourselves.
“Civil society is becoming very active and certain things that we do and get away with, we may not get away with tomorrow. If we take laws into our hands and try to squeeze society, the young people will react. It happened when I was president, in a sister country, Burkina Faso.
“By their law, when a President is absent, the speaker of the parliament takes over because they have no vice president, the President wanted to amend the constitution so that he can go for a third tenure. From the thinking of society, the parliament was compromised So, the young people in that country mobilised themselves and went to the national parliament to kill the speaker and the security couldn’t stop them but the speaker ran away.
“The mob then moved to the State House to kill the President and he ran to Cote D’Ivoire. There was no one to run the country because the President and the Speaker had run away, so, the military had to step in. So, we the politicians and those of us who are holding sensitive positions should know that the society is changing so much. We must do everything to follow the rule of law,” he said.
