Friday, March 29, 2024

Rupiah Banda hails Goodluck Jonathan

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Former president Rupiah Banda at Edgar Lungu's innauguration
Former president Rupiah Banda at Edgar Lungu’s innauguration

FOURTH republican president Rupiah Banda has described outgoing Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan’s acceptance of defeat in the March 28 elections as victory for African democracy.

President Banda says Mr Jonathan’s graceful exit, after losing to opposition leader Muhammadu Buhari, should be embraced by all incumbent African leaders if the continent’s democracy is to be entrenched.

The former head of State in a statement released in Lusaka by his deputy administrative assistant Kennedy Limwanya has praised Mr Jonathan for his action and congratulated incoming Nigerian President Buhari, further hoping that the country will find peace in the post-election period.

He has noted that resistance to leave office after losing elections has been a recipe for bloodshed in many African countries, adding that the continent cannot afford to continue sliding down the path of acrimony.

Meanwhile, UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema has been featured in the major international news publication The New York Times following his visit to London where he addressed the Royal Africa Society earlier this week.

In the wake of the victory of opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari in the recently concluded Nigerian elections, Mr Hichilema spoke to the New York Times about the impact his victory will have in inspiring citizens in Zambia and elsewhere to campaign for change.

During the interview Mr Hichilema called for the rise of a new generation of politicians focused on delivering change for their people through better economic management, rather than leaders serving their own personal interests under the guise of politics. Mr Hichilema explained to the New York Times that in Zambia “There is nobody who can be called well off when the great majority of the people are poor.”

The full article placed in the New York Times can be found here:http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/world/europe/in-nigerian-elections-a-look-at-reshaping-a-patchwork-continent.html?_r=0

22 COMMENTS

    • RB is just happy that he and Goodluck are now in the boat. However, unlike Rupiah, Goodluck is unlikely to be appearing before his country-men to answer charges of theft of public resources. I also don’t expect Goodluck to abandon his political party and be campaigning for Buhari!

    • RB, atleast Badluck Jonathan didn’t weep the way you cried when you lost to Sata. And instead of exiting freely, but you went with cases to answer.

    • This old man is a scar on the conscience of our nation, he embodies everything that is ugly, unpleasant and horribly wrong with Africa. It would have been better for the young generation never to have heard of this old sock. He is a bad & terrible influence & he should be in jail the scambag!

    • Birds of the same feather! Goodluck Jonathan had ascended the Nigerian presidency through rigging, which he now could not replicate, but gracefully conceded defeat instead. So did RB. He too ascended the Zambian presidency by rigging the vote which Michael Chilufya Sata had rightfully won; but which rigging, in 2011, he could not replicate, but gracefully conceded defeat instead! How much the two, Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan and Zambia’s Rupiah Banda share in common!

    • The British and the Americans explicitly told Goodluck Jonathan that rigging was out of the question. So did they caution Rupiah Banda in 2011, when in desperation, he wanted to replay his old game – that of rigging the vote. Conceding defeat was forced and imposed on the duo by the powers that be. It’s the reason RB still dreams of making a come back, which come back, he will never taste.

  1. Why did RB cry when he was defeated? In fact it took KK, the Americans, the EU and others to make him concede defeat. And then he wept. U r not the same as Good luck Jonathan coz Jonathan even phoned buhari to congratulate him. Something u RB didn’t do. You r not in the same league.

    • @ 2 Jamakudi

      Jamakudi, it’s because Goodluck Jonathan saw it coming way before it happened. RB did not. The British and the Americans caught RB in the very act of wanting to rig and told him to stop! They warned Goodluck Jonathan way ahead of the day of the election. The American Congress even took a vote to that effect. It fell on RB like a bomb shell from out of the blue.

  2. RB, like many retired/defeated african presidents befriend the incumbents to cover their (previous) tenure’s misconduct. The chain is reciprocative and thus former presidents go scotfree of their wrongdoings. But i know HH is not a coward and cannot tolerate such nonsense. He means well for the people if his words are anything to go by.

  3. Though imposed on them by the powers that be, the legacy left behind by both Goodluck Jonathan and Rupiah Banda – stay away from rigging and concede defeat – is worthy emulating. No one wants to see a repeat of another Ivory Coast Saga!

  4. If RB was truly a man of integrity, as he wants to be perceived, he should have not gone back to his vomit by conniving with Edgar Lungu to rig the January, 2015 election. He is only a wolf in sheep skin. I trust Goodluck Jonathan has better morals.

  5. Amazing Zambians! Willing to praise Goodluck Jonathan a foreigner – as usual and not RB their own! Zambia will only true develop when her people learn to embrace one another despite differences in politics or tribe and willfully support one another. I state that Zambians are too bitter and centered against the progress of each other

    • @ The Vulture

      Your suggestion that we should embrace corrupt and immoral yesterday failures has been major contributor to the ills of today Zambia.
      As to the Zambian “democratic progress”, please do not insult human intelligence.

    • @ 10 The Vulture

      Vulture, you are missing the point. As far as RB is concerned, it is the dirt bath water, not the baby, that the Zambians are pouring out in utter disgust. It’s the bad, RB’s corruption etc., that we reject and are critical of, not the good about him. Similarly, the Nigerians have rejected Goodluck Jonathan because of the bad, despite whatever good there is about him.

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