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| President Goodluck |
He told reporters in his office in Abuja, on Monday, that the president was not responsible for the killings over which the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) advised him to resign if he could not put a stop to the incidents.
The opposition had recently called for the president to quit rather than contemplating the imposition of state of emergency in states most affected by insurgency in parts of the country.
“My reaction to this kind of talk is that it is just ignorance. If something happens, is it the president who went and killed policemen? He is not. You see, if there is any security threat, the security people will take care of it. You could not link it up with the president.
“Recently, there were people killed in Boston marathon (United States of America) by bombs, would you ask (Barack) Obama to resign because of that? There were massacre of school children. Would you say Obama should resign?
“So, it is out of lack of exposure or out of ignorance that people say things. Opposition can say anything if they like. So, I don’t think we can bother ourselves about this,” he said.
Alhaji Tukur welcomed the present attempt by the opposition political parties to merge, even as he dismissed them as lacking the wherewithal to upstage the ruling party.
He said the PDP realised that it could not be the only party in existence under the nation’s democracy and would strive to do the things other parties were doing that make them to attract the sympathy of their members.
On threatening statements being made by some people over the Jonathan’s planned re-election in 2015, the party boss said there was no need to talk about war in election situation, as everyone was free to offer himself to the people.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has expressed opposition to what it said was the agitation for the imposition of a state of emergency in states worst affected by ongoing violence in the country.
A statement issued in Abuja, on Monday, signed by the chairman of the forum and Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, advised the Federal Government to ignore such calls, saying it was made by those who did not wish the country well.
The statement condemned the violence and killings in Borno, Nasarawa, Benue, Adamawa and some other states and commiserated with the people and government of those states, security agencies and the families of the victims.
Also, the Primate of All Nigeria (Anglican Communion), the Most Reverend Nicholas Okoh, on Monday, opposed the call for emergency rule in parts of the country affected by armed conflict.
Okoh, in Abuja at a press conference on the forthcoming 2013 synod session of the Abuja Diocese of the Anglican Communion, said government should rather support a national dialogue by various interest groups, to address the myriad of problems militating against the country’s quest for socio-economic development.
The primate advised the Federal Government to pursue a comprehensive security programme to address some of the glaring signs of increasing insecurity in the country.
Okoh said efforts by the Federal Government to resolve uprising in parts of the country in the past, through emergency rule, did not yield any result, adding that there was the need for a different approach.
“I believe that insecurity should be addressed comprehensively. The Federal Government had tried this emergency rule in other parts of the country but it didn’t work.
“Thinking and reflecting is very crucial at this moment, there is the need for all of us as stakeholders to meet and reflect about our country,” he said.
The cleric warned that the situation might degenerate if something drastic was not done to address the menace of clashes between herdsmen and farmers across the country.
Tribune
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