President Goodluck Jonathan,
yesterday, lampooned some unnamed senior citizens in the country for their
provocative and divisive statements, saying though these people would like to
be seen as statesmen, they behaved more or less like “motor park touts.”
Jonathan spoke when he received the
executive and members of the Board of Trustees, BoT, of the Northern Elders
Council, NEC, led by Alhaji Tanko Yakassai at the State House, saying mere
occupation of a big office in the past did not confer statesmanship on any
body.
He also told the delegation that it
was wrong for anybody to accuse him of hating the north, saying some of his
closest aides are from the north.
Although the President did not name
any politician, there has been no love lost between him and former President
Olusegun Obasanjo who had in recent past criticised his administration over
alleged non-performance.
Obasanjo on Monday also accused
Jonathan of squandering about $55 billion savings in the excess crude account
and the nation’s foreign reserve.
You are ordinary motor park tout
Jonathan said: “Some people call
themselves statesmen but they are not statesmen they are just ordinary
politicians. For you to be a statesman is not because you have occupied a big
office before but the question is what are you bringing to bear. Are you
building this country or are you a part of people who tell lies to destroy this
country to create enmity and make people who ordinarily would have been living
together to fight themselves? Are you planning to set the country ablaze
because you did not get that particular thing you want?
“At the appropriate time Nigerians
will know all of us even though I know most of you know us but the younger ones
do not know. Some people are hiding under some big names and creating a lot of
problems in this country. Making provocative statements in this country;
statements that will set this country ablaze and you tell me you are a senior
citizen. You are not a senior citizen; you can never be. You are ordinary motor
park tout.
“Because, if you are a senior
citizen you will act like one. It is not because of the offices we occupy, it
is by divine grace and providence that some of us occupy these offices. But
what role are you playing to build this country?”
I don’t hate the North
On the allegation that he did not
like the northern part of the country, Jonathan said those spreading the
rumours were unfair to him.
He said that he had been in the
forefront of ensuring that the north is treated like every other part of the
country as demonstrated by several projects sited in the north by his
administration.
He said: “Some people say Jonathan
hates the north, I have heard that statement and I used to ask the Vice
President, Namadi Sambo: they say I hate the north but you are here. I asked
the National Security Adviser and my Principal Secretary the same thing.
“In fact, my Principal Secretary now
had been my Principal Secretary since I was the deputy governor. I never knew I
was going to come here as Vice President not to talk of President. But I have
known him since I was the deputy governor of Bayelsa State.
“My Chief Detail, Yusuf from Borno
State, has been with me since I was a deputy governor in Yenagoa and I see him
as a good person and I have carried him along with me. So I had to ask how can
somebody wake up and say I hate the north?
I’m a Talakawa (down trodden)
“I tell Nigerians I come from the
down trodden; what you call the Talakawas. I come from that level and I
am here today, talking to Alhaji Hassan Adamu because I went to school. And I
said the only thing that can liberate an individual or a group of individuals
is education. If I did not go to school, I wouldn’t have been here to talk to
big people like this.
“This is what I believe in. I don’t
play politics with it. It has been my policy that I don’t play politics with
education.
“When I came on board I said even
though as a country we have the policy on paper, every state must get a federal
university. Of the 12 federal universities created, nine are in the north while
three are in south. The only three states that had no federal universities were
Bayelsa, Ebonyi and Ekiti. Those who were in charge of the university
establishment were not fair. For us to liberate ourselves, we must go to school.
If I hate the north would I have done that?
“We talked about Almajiri’s
education and felt we must change the system. Luckily, we initiated it but now
some state governments are keying into it because I know that it was education
that liberated me.
My father and grand father were
canoe builders
“I would have been a local canoe
builder like my father and grandfather. But I am here because of education and
I feel if we must liberate Nigerian children, whether they are from Zamfara,
Bayelsa, Kebbi, Delta, they must be educated.
“I feel we must enter the north with
aggression through education. Whenever we get the statistics of school
dropouts, I feel unhappy. The number from states in the north, some are about
50 per cent, some even more. The last was up to 70 per cent. I said no, we must
change this statistics. Somebody who hates the people cannot talk about
educating the children because the people we are educating are the future
leaders of this country.”
Peace and unity
Asking the NEC to continue to work
for peace and unity of the country, Jonathan said that countries that are great
are those who have been able to over come religious and ethnic divide.
He said: “I was told that even the
driver of Tafawa Balewa was a Christian. Our people lived together in those
days, why not now that we have even modern ways of life. Our children leave us
and go abroad, they stay together and do a lot of things together. But when we
come back home we begin to build walls. This is a southerner, this is a
northerner, this is a Muslim, this is a Christian; this is a Yoruba man, this
is an Hausa man, this is an Ijaw man, this is a Nupe man. Is that the way we
are going to develop our country?
“America is great today because
America is made up of various cultural groups, everybody makes America because
ethnic lines have been so weakened that people think about America. And that is
why America is great today. Any country that begins to see herself through her
tiny tribal enclaves cannot go anywhere.
“If today I’m sick, if the best
doctor that can treat me is from Zamfara or Enugu or Ekiti, they will bring
that doctor to treat me. They will not ask if that doctor is an Ijaw man, Ogbia
or any other tribe.
“And until we get to that level
where we begin to use people based on their competences, yes there must be
spread in political appointment and so on, but until we get to that level where
we don’t discriminate based on primordial privileges that, of course, will be
the beginning of our development. And that is what we stand for.
“Today I saw a publication in the Daily
Trust showing projects that have been awarded by the Federal Government,
the ones for the north-east very small, south-south very many. I had to make
photocopies and distributed to all the ministers and I asked if it is true that
projects are skewed by this government? Because I am a president from the
south, I have taken all the projects to the south?
“And I said all the ministers must
come up and tell me how the projects are being distributed across the country
and if it is skewed you must tell me why it is so.
“One of the ministers incidentally
is from the north, she is in charge of water resources. She said the
publication cannot be true because Kashimbila Dam alone, the value is more than
the amount quoted in that paper.
“This is to show you how mischievous
Nigerians are because you want to paint Jonathan bad. All of lies that have
been told about this government, I promise you that I am working with your son
and I will not cheat any part of this country.
“For the people who want to paint us
in all kinds of colour, we will explain to Nigerians. They are a lot of
documentations we will show Nigerians.”
NEC believes in peaceful
co-existence —Yakassai
Earlier in his remarks, the leader of the delegation, Tanko Yakassai said: “The NEC believes in peaceful co-existence and extension of hands of fellowship to brothers and sisters from the other side of the nation.
“Nigeria is passing through
political transformation and it is important to all Nigerians and indeed
northerners to appreciate the fact that this country was crafted in such a
manner that no one section of the country can rule the country without support
of the other.
“It is unpatriotic for anybody to
instigate people against any person or people because of a temporary gain.
Politics of insult, blackmail and castigation of individuals shall not take
this country anywhere. We, therefore, believe in peaceful co-existence among
Nigerians and by working together shall we move the country forward.” -VANGUARD
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