Abuja — President Goodluck Jonathan has described the litigations which emanate from election results as a major distraction to governance, even as he reassured Nigerians that the fast approaching 2011 general elections would be free and fair and would be free of litigations.

Jonathan gave this assurance in Kampala on Monday night while meeting with the Nigeria community in Uganda where he added that his administration was committed to changing the orientation to discourage the politicians from going to court to challenge election results.

While conceding that it was normal for some election results to be challenged in court, he emphasized that the laws guiding electoral processes in Nigeria are duly followed.

"It is inconvenient to already be in office and be thinking about election litigation," he said. "The essence of the immunity clause in the constitution is that if a president or a governor takes an oath of office, he should sit down and concentrate (on) the job and when he leaves office, he could be prosecuted for any offence. But because of the way we conduct our elections, the president who sits in office is still battling and being distracted with election issues, and it affects us."

Jonathan, who is in Uganda to attend the 15th summit of the African Union, assuaged the fears being raised in some quarters that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to which he belongs would rig its way into power come 2011.

He assured that PDP would only win by numbers "since elections are about numbers."

According to him, "When you talk about election I always tell people that as a member of PDP, even then as a governor, I knew that PDP has the majority control and if election is about numbers. Yes, we believe that no matter what, PDP would have won in terms of numbers and there was no reason for PDP to rig the elections but because the processes were not followed in some ways, people raised issues and questions about the elections."

Promising that no Nigerian president will suffer the same fate that the late President Yar'Ádua and himself suffered, Jonathan said that was why the late president set up the Justice Uwais commission."And I would not also want to conduct an election in which people would raise issues," he pledged. "I want a situation where at the end of the elections nobody will go to court because there should be no reason for people to go to court."

He assured Nigerians in Uganda that his administration would not slow down in its bid to develop Nigeria, adding that all hands must be on deck by Nigerians all over the world to achieve this."We have infrastructure challenges, challenges of power and others but we assure you that we will continue to do our best to ensure that Nigeria continues to improve, we would no longer slide backward. Every day we want to move one step forward no matter how little the distance and as a government we are committed.

'I know if we stabilize power, we can double the rate of employment. I give my assurance we will do our best in this area. If we create the enabling environment there will be job and that is what we are targeting.

Nigerian High Commissioner to Uganda, Mr. Fidel Ayogu, said Nigerians in Uganda have conducted themselves as good ambassadors of the country adding that the relations between Nigeria and Uganda has been cordial, fruitful and reciprocal. He commended President Jonathan for running an all inclusive administration, saying it is the best way to move the nation forward. A minute silent was observed for the late president Umaru Musa Yar'Ádua at the instance of President Jonathan.