Jonathan is undeterred as Abuja bomb row grows...
Middle: President Jonathan, (L) VP Sambo and (R) Dame Patience at the Independence Day celebration
THE President took the battle to his opponents’ camp Wednesday.
He rejected the call for him to throw in the towel over his handling of the October 1 bombings and threw blows at those who are politicising the tragedy.
President Goodluck Jonathan was replying to the comments of the Northern Political Leaders Forum, led by former Finance Minister Adamu Ciroma.
His campaign organisation also attacked former Military President Gen. Ibrahim Babangida over his comments on the incident.
Gen. Babangida promptly reacted in Minna, describing as "idiotic" any attempt to link him with the Abuja blast. He also cleared his Campaign chief, Dr Raymond Dokpesi, who is undergoing interrogation in connection with the incident.
No fewer than 12 persons died in the twin-blast; 36 others were injured.
In Abuja, the Senate faulted the "politicisation" of the national tragedy.
Writing on his Facebook page Wednesday, President Jonathan said in a statement entitled: "In defence of life, liberty and prosperity" posted at 6.10pm:
"It is unfortunate that an unprecedented national tragedy of this nature has been politicised by people whose only interest is what they can get from the country and not what the country can get from them.
"They specialise in playing one part of the country against the other and riding on sectional sentiments to promote their narrow ambitions. I believe that Nigerians have grown beyond this parochial mentality.
"To prove to you that their interests are personal and not for the people they claim to represent, you will notice that while this administration has spent considerable time and resources as well as focused attention on the recent floods in Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi and Jigawa states and the cholera epidemic in certain parts of Nigeria as well as the lead poisoning that has consumed 400 children in Zamfara State, these so called concerned people have not been known to address any of these issues or offer a word of succour to the victims.
"This is irrefutable proof that their only focus is how to get power and not the wellbeing of the long suffering people of Nigeria whom I have sworn to Almighty God to protect.
"At this critical time, we should be mourning the dead and praying for the families left behind. What they need at this sad hour is not politics but compassion and empathy."
The Senate criticised the politicisation of the bombings.
At its plenary, the upper legislative body chided the politicians and some elder statesmen for making statements capable of injuring what it described as the country’s fragile unity.
Senate President David Mark said: "I am disappointed at the comments being made by some elder statesmen concerning these bomb explosions. We have lost lives and the nation’s unity is being threatened, yet we are politicising it.
"This is unfortunate and uncalled for. The issue before us is life threatening and serious. So, we should stop politicising it and think of ways to make sure that this needless act does not happen again."
Mark urged security agencies to work towards ensuring that the culprits are apprehended and punished.
Mark spoke after a debate on the bombings on the floor of the Senate during which senators unanimously condemned the action.
Many described the incident as a terrorist act, which they said must be so treated.
A statement Wednesday by the Director of Media of the President’s Campaign Organisation, Mr. Sully Abu, said: "We were all witnesses to the high wire political mischief played in years gone by, all aimed at achieving effortless regime change. We remember how fifth columnists executed searches on the homes of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and others to achieve predetermined ends.
"We also recall how, in that epoch, the issue of 53 suitcases was contrived to ease a putsch against Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. Clearly, we are on the march again, and the same characters of yesteryear are the game players once again. But this time, Nigerians cannot be fooled. Our people remain eternally vigilant, and we call on the security agencies not to hesitate to charge anyone found culpable with the relevant laws of the land."
The search on the late Chief Awolowo’s home and the 53 suitcases issues took place during the regime of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari when Gen. Babangida was the Chief of Army Staff. Babangida took over from Buhari in a palace coup on August 27, 1985.
The campaign team also said that those who want to make Nigeria ungovernable would face the law.
"The point must be made that those promising to make the country ungovernable for President Jonathan, as Alhaji Lawal Kaita openly boasted recently, must also be ready to keep a date with the law. We are, after all, a country governed by laws, and the laws of treason are very clear in this regard."
Speaking in Minna after receiving a bus donated to his campaign organisation by some Nigerians in the Diaspora, Gen. Babangida said: "It is idiotic to link me with such a thing. It is idiotic to associate me with something that will threaten the unity of Nigeria, especially on a symbolic day like that.
He went on: "I fought a war. I know how I fought to make sure Nigeria is one. I am still carrying the shrapnel in my body up till today.
"I cannot do anything to threaten the unity of Nigeria; only idiots will associate me with such a terrible thing".
On Dokpesi’s interrogation, the former military leader exonerated the Chairman of Daar Communications. He said: "Dokpesi couldn’t have had any hand in it. You cannot associate Dokpesi with something like that; he cannot do something against Nigeria."
The PDP presidential aspirant said the arrest "is the price he is paying as a politician".
He gave knocks to the security agencies for not nipping the incident in the bud, saying: "Nobody has disputed that government was given notice by the bombers; government was informed.
"You don’t need more than 24 hours to remedy it, if you are informed and serious. Two days is more than enough for reaction, which is vital to security. I am not blaming anybody but there is a lapse."
Gen. Babangida also spoke on his absence at the 50th Independence anniversary celebrations in Abuja on the day the bombs went off. He said it was because he did not believe in the arrangement and the expenditure that accompanied it.
"I don’t believe in the whole concept lined up for the anniversary; the expenditure was too much. There are more imaginative and more effective ways of celebrating Nigeria at 50. The large expenditure should have gone into universities and other projects," he said.
Gen. Babangida thanked Nigerians in the Diaspora for donating the bus and assured them that he was determined to see the race to its logical conclusion.
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