Monday 31 March 2014

Jonathan Blasts Governors For Pointing Accusation hands on FG for Insecurity

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday blasted some state governors for claiming that bad leadership at the federal level was responsible for the Boko Haram insurgency that has ravaged states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
Speaking yesterday at the North East zone of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) rally held at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium, President Jonathan maintained that...
insurgency and crimes such as kidnapping and armed robbery were gaining ground because governors of the affected states were failing in their responsibilities.
He said the security challenges in the North-east was the handiwork of illiterate youths who lost hope due to bad leadership of their state governors who failed to send them to school.
The President said: “State governors that are saying it is bad leadership should be ashamed. I was a deputy governor and governor where I spent eight years at the state. The first commercial kidnapping took place in Bayelsa. Seventy per cent of the state are swamps; a governor will come and spread issue that it is because of bad leadership. Bad leadership from who? We had security challenges in Bayelsa when I was deputy governor and governor and we handled them. It is not the duty of Federal Government to send children to primary and secondary schools but it is the constitutional right of the Federal Government to make sure children attend tertiary institutions, which we have done.
“If we have security challenges, whether you call them Boko Haram or kidnappers or whatever, these are people who couldn’t go to primary school, who couldn’t go to secondary schools.  Miscreants now recruit and use them. If you see them, they wear rags, they don’t wear normal clothes.  All they put on their body is not worth N10 but they carry assault rifle with bullets that are more than N250, 000. Somebody gave them food and asked them to kill. We ask how we build this army of unemployed or employable youths. The Federal Government does not control primary education. The Federal Government does not control secondary education. And a governor has been on seat for almost eight years.
Apparently referring to the Borno State governor, Alhaji Shettima, the president continued: “Governors must make sure our children go to schools. Somebody stays eight years in leadership and he opens his mouth and says bad leadership.  Is it the Federal Government that will make your children go to primary schools? State governors that do not send their children to schools and they carry arms should be ashamed to say bad leadership. We are into this madness because people refuse to do their work and people carry arms and engage in insurgency.
He expressed his sympathy to all those who lost their relations to the insurgency and assured that the insecurity challenges in the North-east would soon be over. In his address, the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Ahmadu Adamu Muazu described the party as the largest and most transparent party in the country. He assured of the party’s readiness to continue the reconciliatory effort in all states to ensure fairness, commitment and success of the party in 2015.
The Chairman of PDP Governors Forum, Godswill Akapabio called on insurgents in the North especially in the North East zone  to support President Jonathan’ s administration by laying down their arms to enable peace to reign in the country.
He also called on all elders and leaders in the North to talk to their youths to bring security challenges to an end in the region, saying “we are a peace loving country, this is not our behavior in this country because we are God fearing people so we must live in peace with one another irrespective of our culture and religious differences because we cannot enjoy Nigeria without peaceful coexistence.
In his address, Bauchi State Governor, Alhaji  Isa Yuguda described the PDP as a peaceful and united family. He commended President Jonathan for his transformation  agenda in the North-east zone, saying “Mr. President you have done your best to ensure we have our own fair share of the transformation agenda.

Yuguda, therefore, solicited  the support of the Federal Government for the completion of Kafin Zaki Dam, which according to him, would provide over two million jobs to the teeming youths in the region when completed, saying “peace will be guaranteed immediately this dam is completed because everybody in the region will have job.”

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