Former President Goodluck Jonathan has called on politicians to embrace politics as a means of developing the people and not as warfare.
Jonathan made the call yesterday at the Ecumenical Centre in Igbogene, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, during the first anniversary thanksgiving of the Governor Douye Diri administration.
Others at the thanksgiving were Dame Patience Jonathan, Governors Seyi Makinde (Oyo); Bala Mohammed (Bauchi); Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom); National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Uche Secondus, among others.
The former president advised politicians to learn to sheathe their swords and work with the winner at the end of every political contest.
He said: “Those of us in politics should learn to play politics as politics and not as a war. At the end of the process, let us come together and support the winner.
“I thank our governor for opening his mind to accept everybody irrespective of the political divide, and I urge him to do more.”
Diri thanked the judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court Justices, for their courage in delivering such a landmark judgment. Diri said the Justices proved that the judiciary remained the last hope of the common man.
He said: “They say the judiciary is the last hope of the common man. For us, the judiciary was our last hope. We thank all those who contributed one way or another toward ensuring our victory.
“I again urge Bayelsans not to see those in the opposition as enemies. Today they are there but tomorrow they might be here. As I speak, many of our brothers in the All Progressives Congress (APC) are returning to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).”
