Praising Dr Jonathan as the hero of democracy for conceding defeat during the last general elections, Can said that arresting him under corruption charges would make Nigeria boil. Since President Buhari assumed power in May last year, his government has been probing the Jonathan regime, arresting several ministers and arraigning them before courts.
Can has urged President Buhari to focus on arresting the menace of marauding and murderous herdsmen, erratic power supply and an economy that was getting weaker since his assumption of office. Reverend John Joseph Hayab, Can's public relations officer and a one-time adviser on religious affairs to both late Governor Ibrahim Yakowa and Governor Ramalan Yero of Kaduna State, urged the president to get his priorities right.
Reverend Hayab said: “Every honest Nigeria knows that the feelers on the ground are that this administration’s popularity is dwindling rapidly among the Nigerian people. It is therefore not advisable to think or plan to arrest former president Dr Goodluck Jonathan.
"Let me warn that such a misadventure will set a wrong precedent and only open door for mischievous people to set this nation into confusion. What Nigerians need urgently is availability of fuel, electricity, prompt salary, security of lives and properties etc."
He added that the purported plan to arrest Dr Jonathan is to please the international community and prove to them that the government is fighting corruption. According to Reverend Hayab this same international community is busy celebrating Dr Jonathan as a hero of democracy and even those who seriously wanted him to go for a change to happen are now singing a new song about him.
"Former President Jonathan is deservedly seen in Nigeria and beyond as a hero of democracy because of his actions before, during and after the 2015 elections. As such, it will be curious for the Buhari administration to initiate the arrest of such a statesman.
"Government must know that there are individuals serving today that have also been accused of corruption but since there are claims that nothing has been established against them, they are walking and speaking like saints. While ignoring all these people, the government now wants to arrest a man of peace like Jonathan," Reverend Hayab added.
Dr Jonathan's regime has been under particular investigation for the Dasukigate scandal involving the diversion of money budgeted for military hardware into private pockets. Several high profile members of his cabinet are currently facing trial over their role in the saga said to have involved as much as $15bn.
Reverend Hayab added: “Can northern states wishes to advice that such an action, if actualised, has the capacity to lead to serious confusion that will affect Nigeria economically and otherwise. We are afraid that such an action may spark chain reaction.
"If our president wants to arrest anything for now then he should arrest the incessant spate of herdsmen attacks in Nigeria which has led to the deaths of almost a thousand innocent Nigerians under his watch. He should arrest the dangerous slide in the power sector and he should arrest the slide in the economy."
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