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?”
