ABUJA—BARELY eight days after his comment on the twin bomb blasts in parts of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, which generated controversies, President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, said that he only meant to distance the spirit behind the bombing from the globally acclaimed Niger-Delta struggle.
President Jonathan, while reacting to the bomb attacks, had said: “Let me also use this opportunity to reassure Nigerians that what happened yesterday (October 1) had nothing, I have to repeat, had nothing to do with the Niger Delta. People just used the name of MEND to camouflage criminality and terrorism.”
He said the online “release purported to have been issued by MEND attributing the blasts to the lack of attention to the Niger Delta, is not tenable because this is the first time that somebody from the Niger Delta has the opportunity to even be the President of this country for about four months, so whatever your grievances is and you have your own here, you should have some hope. Good things do not happen overnight.”
No sooner than the President bared his mind on the bombing that Nigerians especially politicians began interpreting his comment with many expressing the view that the statement was rather too hasty as investigations were on.
But making a clarification on the controversial statement, while receiving the Northern Political Summit, G-20, during a solidarity visit to Aso Rock, Jonathan explained that it was regrettable that politicians hijacked the comment to score cheap political goal, in a much more sensitive issue such as terrorist attack.
Jonathan said: “After the incident, I spoke the following day when the ECOWAS parliament had programme and the day I visited the hospital. I believe as a nation whether you are a member of MEND or not, is not the issue.
” What I am saying is that don’t cover it up by using the name of Niger Delta or MEND. That is what I said. As at that time, they have arrested some people, some from Niger Delta some not. If we continue to do that, it will get to the time that it will travel far. From Benin to Port Harcourt and now to Abuja, it will also go to Maiduguri the next day. I believe that we must unearth those who are involved.”
The President who said that “those who bombed Nigeria on that day are more demonic than Lucifer,” adding that “those of us who are Christians, believe that there is a demon called Lucifer.
“On the issue of the October bomb blasts, I want to thank you for your encouraging statement and commitment. I know the role you have been playing to explain things to people so that people will not play politics with things that are of serious national interest”.
Jonathan who would not want to comment further on the incident said: “I did not want to comment just as you advised because if you make comment, people will then want to play politics with it. So, I have allowed the security agencies to continue with their work. At the end of the day, we will surely unearth those who are behind this.”
“And I always explain to people that look this car bombs first of all happened in Benin, Edo State, somebody even died and another in Bayelsa State, nobody made an investigation but they said it was Niger Delta crisis. It was buried under MEND, under Niger Delta crisis. Again, another one in Port Harcourt, luckily no body died in the Port Harcourt incident but it was buried”.
“Not too long ago, Vanguard Newspaper was organizing a programme in Warri, another one happened when governors and senior citizens of this country were meeting, nobody ordered an investigation and it was also buried, nobody was arrested. Then now in Abuja on the October 1, they said MEND again, I said no, we cannot continue to burry this under Niger Delta crisis or MEND. That is the sin I have committed”.
Earlier, the Senator Ibrahim Idah who was nominated by the leader of the delegation and former Governor of Plateau State, Chief Solomon Lar, to speak on behalf of the G_20, dismissed the call on President Goodluck Jonathan to resign by the leader of the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF), Mallam Ciroma, saying that the is not only provocative but also a calculated attempt to install anarchy in the polity.
“To our compatriots in the Northern Political Leaders Forum, we urge for a return to the path of peaceful dialogue in the resolution of our national problems. The recent resort to threats and intimidating pronouncements can only generate further heat instead of the essential light for us to see the way forward. Given their tested maturity and noble character, Nigerians expect these leaders to rise above sectional politics and proceed to promote the blessings of national unity and the security of social justice”, he said.
The group maintained that “given the serious nature of the tragic event, we denounce, in the strongest term, attempts being made by some political leaders to politicize this matter. This is outrageous in the extreme.
Matters of national security should not be politicized, for whatever political reasons”.
According to him, “most Nigerians are also outraged by new language of threats and unwarranted intimidations and ultimatums coming from leaders of Northern Political Forum. We thought leaders should do their best to find lasting solutions to national problems instead of the deliberate attempts being made to provoke further confusion and crises”.
“This has become necessary because of certain provocative statements that have tended to escalate the already tense situation in our dear country. We appeal for calm! As patriotic citizens, we must conduct our public affairs on the high plane of dignity, discipline and decorum. Surely, it is far better to work together to move Nigeria away from the quicksand of ethnicity to the solid rock of national integration, based on justice, social harmony and national security”.
Senator Idah pointed out that “most Nigerians would agree that the matter before us go far beyond the dictates of partisan politics” and “therefore appeal to all Nigerians, and especially our colleagues in politics, that we must not politicize matters that threaten the very foundations of our nation”, stressing that “in times like this we have to move to higher realms of what is best for Nigeria. This is the hour for statesmen and women who are determine to build rather than destroy”.
The group however urged Federal authorities and our security Agencies to do their best by ensuring that a thorough and transparent investigation is carried to reveal all those involved in this dastardly act of terror, saying that “the process of investigations must be kept purely professional, devoid of politics; and indeed we fell moved to appeal to all our leaders to resolve to observe a period of moratorium on press comments on these sensitive matters until the investigations are completed”.
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