Adams Odunayo
Many Nigerians think
and have described President Goodluck Jonathan as an insensitive leader
amidst the reactions coming from his steps to formally declare his
intention for a 2015 comeback.
Goodluck Jonathan
From his said failed administration in
terms of the kidnapped Chibok girls, many Nigerians are worried that Mr
president is solely about his selfish gains and not his real
responsibilities of protecting lives and the property of the citizens
are his utmost priority
The President who had a change in
cabinet on Thursday set up a Presidential Declaration Committee with a
former Minister of Defence, Dr. Bello Haliru, appointed as the chairman,
also former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, was appointed as the Deputy
Chairman and Senator Anyim Pius Anyim will serve as secretary of the
committee.
Mr President who had made it known some
years back that he would not stay in office beyond 2015 has however made
Nigerians to have many thoughts ranging from being able to have secured
the release of the Chibok girls even before he declares for a
re-election.
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However, according to punch, the
Executive Director, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project,
Adetokunbo Mumuni, has made it known that the fact that the President
had chosen to concern himself about returning to power at this time
amounted to insensitivity.
Mumuni, made it known on Thursday that
the President could simply have delayed his declaration until when the
Chibok girls are rescued.
“But in Nigeria, politicians at all
levels, not just the President, think mostly about the moment rather
than the future. It has become customary that they don’t bother about
the situation in the country when their political career is concerned.
“There were reports that the girls
would be released last Monday but this is the end of the week and
nothing has happened. What the President should have done was to address
the nation on this issue and tell us why nothing has happened.”
Mr. David Anyaele, who is the Executive
Director, Centre for Citizens with Disabilities, also expressed worry
over the President’s seeming reluctance to prove to Nigerians that he
could provide adequate security for them. Urging that Chibok girls must
be rescued, he said:
“Nigerians should demand that the President should produce the
girls right now to show he has the capacity to provide security for the
country beyond 2015 and that he is not insensitive.”
Speaking on behalf of the Chibok girls,
the spokesperson for the BringBack Our Girls Campaign, said it would be
unfair to the abducted girls for the President to put politics above
their safe return.
He said, “For us at BBOG campaign,
one of the things we have been demanding is that we need to see a
resolve from the Presidency that rescuing the Chibok girls and other
boys and girls who have been kidnapped in the past remain number one on
the agenda of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“Unfortunately, this is a time we
have different political intrigues and the 2015 elections close by.
Sometimes we feel they have placed politics above the return of the
girls.
“We demand that the government
should rescue the girls and communicate with the families of the girls
who have been kept in the dark since the news broke that there was a
ceasefire and a negotiation.”
An Abuja-based lawyer and social
commentator, Mr. Jide Oluyemi, said it is a shame for the president to
seek re-election in the midst of the security crisis in the country,
especially in the North-East, making it known that the president is
totally insensitive to the plight of Nigerians.
Oluyemi said, “Six months ago, Boko
Haram abducted over 200 Chibok schoolgirls and they have yet to return
home. There are thousands of people displaced and yet President Goodluck
Jonathan still has the gut to declare his ambition to seek re-election.
“This is insensitivity at its
greatest height; this is unfair to many Nigerians who have lost their
loved ones to the insurgency in the North. This display of insensitivity
must stop. He should address the insecurity first and lay aside his
ambition for now. He was not properly advised on this one.”
Fred Agbaje, a Lagos-based lawyer, says
that though the President has the right to seek Nigerians’ mandate for
re-election, the timing was wrong.
“There is no law or any process
which bars the President from declaring his interest. Once the necessary
provisions of the law are met, he can declare. But the question is
whether he can still go ahead to declare in the face of mounting
insecurity, unemployment, corruption and abduction of Nigerians, among
other problems confronting the country.
“Yes, he can still declare but it is
now left for Nigerians whether in the face of the social ills that I
have highlighted to open their eyes and allow him to continue to rule us
and we continue to suffer or we open our eyes and reject his coming
back and say we don’t want him.
“Just like the governor of Kano
State said, we have had many opportunities to reject Jonathan and vote
him out. Just on Thursday, we heard that some group of girls and women
were abducted by the Boko Haram insurgents while this government told us
it had entered into a ceasefire agreement with the insurgents.
“I am sure the ceasefire agreement
the President is telling Nigerians about is not true or done with the
wrong people. Otherwise, the original sect would have told us by
themselves if there was any ceasefire agreement. That is why they are
still going ahead, kidnapping, maiming, and killing people. I agree with
Kwankwanso that we have lost opportunities to vote the President out
especially in the midst of all the social crises facing the country.”
Naij.com
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