Presidency Responds to Northern Elders Threat, Calls Them Mischief Makers

President Goodluck Jonathan

•C’ttee set up to reappraise Jonathan’s presidential bid
Chuks Okocha   and Shola Oyeyipo

The presidency yesterday reacted to the ultimatum given by the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) to President Goodluck Jonathan to end the insurgency and secure the release of the abducted female students of Government Secondary School, Chibok by October ending or forget about contesting for the 2015 presidential election.

In its reaction, the presidency said that Jonathan does not need threats or an ultimatum from any group for him to be alive to his responsibilities to the Nigerian people

A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said: “We wish to state categorically that President Jonathan does not require any threat or ultimatum from any group of persons to be alive to his responsibilities to the Nigerian people.

“The issue of the insurgency, especially those ideologically based on Islamic extremism, is a global phenomenon and requires tact, military capability, serious de-radicalisation techniques and community based counter insurgency programmes to ensure success.”

It further said that the suggestion that the government was carrying out a plan to annihilate a section of the country for political gain was preposterous, contrary to common sense, divisive and essentially a deliberate attempt to disseminate “hate mentality and cause mischief”.

The statement explained that Jonathan was voted for by an overwhelming majority of Nigerians across board, and  “he will never promote any policy that is either divisive or inimical to the wellbeing of any section of the polity.
“What the country needs today is total cooperation of all its citizens and stakeholders with the government and our military and the security agencies”.

While reiterating the progress made by the presidency and the federal government to   release the abducted Chibok girls and tackle the insurgency in the country, Okupe said: “We are improving on our operational capabilities and efficiencies by acquiring more advanced weapons and technologies for our military and security agencies.

“We have drafted more military personnel to the region to strengthen the fighting power of our armed forces. We are taking advantage of the offers from our international military and intelligence allies to assist in identifying key locations.

“We are working with our neighbours to secure the borders and limit the movements of the Boko Haram fighters, building on the agreements reached at the recent summits in Paris and London.

“We are deploying more resources to maximise operational efficiency, acquire more advanced and relevant weaponry and boost the general morale of our combatants. This is why the government recently requested for an additional funding of $1 billion.

“And the last piece in the puzzle is targeting the domestic and international funding, and stopping the money flows into the coffers of the terrorists.”

Okupe maintained that with all the efforts and the support of Nigeria’s allies, these steps will help fight the threat of the Boko Haram and move the security forces closer to bringing the girls back safely.

“We wish to assure Nigerians that in spite of this and many more distractions, the president is focused on continued successful executions of his Transformation Agenda and the guarantee of the security of lives and property of the Nigerian people,” Okupe stated.
In the same vein, a group called Igbo Redemption described the threat by NEF as an act of blackmail and desperation to link the release of the Chibok girls to the 2015 presidential election.

While addressing a press conference yesterday in Abuja, the group led by Dally Ajufo said that the comments from the northern elders did not represent the views of the north.

According to Ajufo, “Statements like these coming from people who cannot lay claim to any significant contribution to the growth and development of Northern Nigeria is nothing but a mark of desperation which we hopefully assume does not represent the views of right thinking leaders of the North.

“The latest attempt by the Northern Elders Forum to link the 2015 Presidential bid of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to ending the Boko Haram insurgency and producing” the Chibok girls is unacceptable and will only spell doom for the whole country.

“We therefore call on genuine leaders of the North including traditional rulers, political and business leaders as well other patriotic Nigerians to rise up in condemnation of these desperate parasitic politicians who do not mean well for either the North or Nigeria as a whole.”

The group reiterated the right of the president to seek a second term in office in accordance with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.
On the same note, the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere described the statement credited to the northern elders as a confirmation of an alleged conspiracy theory.

Afenifere, in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, disagreed with the ultimatum handed to the president, describing it as a “wicked and insensitive ploy to turn the misfortune of the Chibok girls and their parents to an electoral weapon”.

Afenifere therefore challenged the northern elders to name the interests engineering the conflicts in the region, adding that “by linking the electoral fortunes of President Jonathan in 2015 to ‘BringBackOurGirls’ latest by October as well as ending the Boko Haram insurgency, the elders have just confirmed the suspicion in the land that the activities of Boko Haram is either enjoying the sponsorship of some elite of the north or at least has their sympathy”.

The body condemned the NEF position, which it said had been the pattern of most reactions from the majority of the elite of the region, who it alleged had been using the activities of the insurgents to rattle the government.

“The most audacious of this perfidy is this ultimatum by the Northern Elders Forum. A traumatised country that has been held in anxiety over the fate of the abducted girls cannot but challenge these elders at this stage to appeal to their wards in Boko Haram to release the innocent young girls who now appear to be cannon fodders in the struggle for ‘we want our power back’.

“A time has come to let these elite know they can no longer play the ostrich by burying their heads in the sand and think no one sees them because they are seeing no one,” Afenifere contended.

Odumakin, who is a delegate at the National Conference, said a similar scenario played out at dialogue of ethnic nationalities convened by the president to find a lasting solution to problems confronting the country.

In the meantime, in a clear indication that the president would soon declare his presidential bid, the presidency has commenced the reappraisal of its strategy for the 2015 election, even as it inaugurated a committee to restructure the umbrella organisation, the Goodluck Support Group (GSG)

The Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, Prof. Rufai Alkali, who inaugurated the GSG reorganisation committee yesterday said that it would commence the screening and evaluation of all non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and groups supportive of Jonathan’s presidential bid.

The committee, which comprises an 11-man special GSG re-organisation committee and headed by Gen. A.T. Ibrahim (rtd), is to study all issues concerning the organisation and propose a reorganisation structure that will allow the Peoples Democratic Party-led government reposition for 2015.
The committee has 10 days to submit its report.

Commenting on the Ekiti and Osun elections, Alkali who accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of dealing in fallacy, said when Ayo Fayose won the opposition APC cried foul and even went to court to challenge the outcome of the election but they have since been quiet when their candidate won in Osun.

“After Ekiti, the Osun elections came under similar security circumstances. Now that the opposition won, they are silent. Should PDP reject the outcome of the election on the same argument advanced by the opposition? You can now see the fallacy on the platform of the opposition,” he said.