Stop Embarrassing Yourself, Nigeria; APC Tells Jonathan
Category: Nigerian National News
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said President Goodluck
Jonathan goofed badly by taking a partisan stand on the ongoing
insurgency in the country, rather than seeing it for what it is – a
national problem.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its Interim National
Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said President
Jonathan’s attempt to blame APC Governors for the insurgency amounts to
an unfortunate politicization and trivialization of a serious national
problem and explains why the President has been exhibiting sheer
cluelessness and total incompetence in tackling the crisis.
It said the comments credited to the President also shows that he has
little or no appreciation of his role as the father of the nation, who
should regard the entire country as his constituency, rather than
exulting in being a chieftain of the PDP.
”President Jonathan did not speak with facts when he gave the
impression that insecurity in the country is restricted to states
controlled by our party. Had he allowed himself to be guided by facts
rather than fiction, he would have realized that Plateau state, which
has witnessed perhaps the highest quantum of killing of innocent people
in any single state in recent times, is not an APC state, neither is
Benue, Kaduna, Akwa Ibom or Enugu, where separatists recently attempted
to forcefully take over a radio station.
”Talking of Akwa Ibom, President Jonathan has either forgotten the
content of his government’s White Paper on the ”Report of the Federal a
Government Investigation Panel on the 2011 Election Violence and
Disturbances”, which fingered the PDP-controlled state as the source of
the sophisticated weapons used in the unrest, or he decided to
deliberately distort the facts just to smear the opposition,” APC said.
Quoting from the White Paper, the party said: ”The panel also
observed that some memoranda received from Akwa Ibom State alleged that
there is a large scale arms running going on in the State…The panel
recommends that Government should conduct an in-depth investigation into
the allegations of large scale arms running in Akwa Ibom State to stem
the tide of illegal arms flow into the country and ensure proper
monitoring and licensing of local manufacturers of firearms and
dealers.”
It urged President Jonathan to stop embarrassing himself and the
nation by making indiscreet comments that do not accentuate his position
as the leader of Africa’s most populous nation.
”Can anyone imagine US President Barack Obama publicly blaming
governors elected under the aegis of the Republican Party for cases of
deadly shooting in schools in his country? Can anyone imagine the US
President giving a partisan coloration to the 1993 raid on the religious
sect Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, for violating federal law?
”President Jonathan must always resist the temptation to act in an
unpresidential manner, to say things that will embarrass his nation and
her people, to act more like a party chairman than a President, to make
comments that can easily be debunked and to say things that divide his
people along religious and ethnic lines.
”The truth is that President Jonathan, as the Commander-in-Chief of
the armed forces, controls the nation’s entire security apparatus.
Therefore, he bears the ultimate responsibility for the security of
all Nigerians, whether they are members of the APC, PDP, Labour Party or
any party whatsoever. Insecurity in Adamawa, Borno, Benue, Plateau or
Enugu state is a failure of the President, not that of the Governors of
those states,” APC said.
The party said the reason the Boko Haram insurgency has festered is
that President Jonathan, instead of showing leadership in tackling it,
has engaged in finger pointing and the apportioning of blame.
”Mr. President, we have said this before and we will repeat it: The
buck stops at your desk. You must learn to take responsibility instead
of constantly dodging it. After all, it was Winston Churchill who said
‘The price of greatness is responsibility’,” it said.
[Vanguard]
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