Former President Goodluck Jonathan, has said next year's general elections is more than just an election, but much more about the future of Nigerians.
Jonathan who spoke while delivering a keynote address at the one-year memorial summit in honour of late Captain Idahosa Okunbo, in Abuja on Saturday, said most of those seeking elective positions in the country are concerned about their own personal benefits, but advices Nigerians to be more concerned about their own future when voting in the next election.
He said Nigerians must reject those who believe their money will buy them the presidency, warning that such people would mortgage the future of their children and grandchildren.
“Ahead of the 2023 elections, we are getting ready to be wooed and wowed at campaign grounds by various politicians seeking different offices.
“But these thoughts are beyond 2023. It is about Nigeria and the kind of leadership it deserves now and in the future to ensure that our country assumes its rightful place among the comity of nations.
“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,” Jonathan said.
Similarly, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has warned against voting the wrong people, saying Nigerians may not survive more years of "war, famine and death."
He said, ”We need a team whose pedigree must match their rhetoric for unity, peace and progress. Our most immediate challenge now is to bring our disparate peoples together and pull down our barriers; otherwise, we cannot build. Issues of development, although absolutely important, are not the most immediate.
”No one without an implementable solution on the questions of unity and justice for us all regardless of ethnicity or creed should have their names on the ballot, period.
“Make no mistake, if we dare get it all wrong in 2023, we would have succeeded in hastening the days of the first four hours – the famous horsemen of the apocalypse on ourselves days that will be marked by conquest, war, famine and death. May God forbid,” he said in the statement.