Boko Haram blamed for inability of Jonathan's Govt to perform
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- Category: POLITICS
- Published on Wednesday, 18 July 2012 15:16
- Written by Ogbuefi Blogs
PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, said that the security situation in the country changed his pre-election agenda. In his opening remarks at the 60th National Executive Committee, NEC meeting of the PDP in Abuja, President Jonathan who absolved the insurgent Islamic group, Boko Haram from blame in the recent spate of
killings on the Plateau said the government had decided to refocus its pre-election agenda of job creation in favour of security enhancement.
Noting the government’s change of agenda from the pre-election focus on jobs towards security enhancement, he said: “During our campaign, our emphasis was on job creation, power, but now what worries us more is security because you must even be alive before you eat food. So, if you are not safe, you can’t even think about hunger because a dead person does not eat food. With the situation of things now in the country, the most serious issue in the country is security. I will not give a comprehensive report here, but we will do that some other time. We have talked about food security but we you can’t have food without personal security.”
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Insecurity changed my agenda, says Jonathan at PDP’s NEC - Vanguard
PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, cried out over what he described as the lynch-mob mentality of the political opposition, who he claimed, was determined to drown him and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, out of political relevance. He also said that the security situation in the country changed his pre-election agenda.
In his opening remarks at the 60th National Executive Committee, NEC meeting of the PDP in Abuja, President Jonathan who absolved the insurgent Islamic group, Boko Haram from blame in the recent spate of killings on the Plateau said the government had decided to refocus its pre-election agenda of job creation in favour of security enhancement.
Yesterday’s NEC meeting attended by 14 PDP governors was the first after the recent Edo State governorship election where the party was soundly defeated by the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN. The erstwhile chairman of the Board of Trustees of the party, Chief Tony Anenih, who was a normal sight at the party’s NEC’s was unusually absent at the meeting during which the party repledged a vote of confidence on President Jonathan and the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.
Noting what he described as the increasing gang-up by the opposition against the PDP, President Jonathan noted that the opposition was now more determined than ever to paint the PDP bad whether it was a contest for a council seat or the presidency.
Giving reasons for the administration’s decision to refocus its pre-election agenda of job creation towards security, President Jonathan said that ensuring food security as well as create job for the people would not be feasible as a man must be first alive for him to “talk about job or food.”
He as such disclosed that from the next NEC meeting that government functionaries would be brought to brief members of NEC on government’s plans and policies. He said that the briefing would start with the National Security Adviser, NSA, retd. Col. Sambo Dasuki, and would be followed by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and other Ministers.
He said: “I assure you that we will continue to do our best, we will continue to represent the government and the party. People want to drown us and PDP and you see most of the statements being made by people, they know PDP is a very robust party and for you to now make sure people don’t vote for PDP irrespective of the election whether it is councillorship, chairmanship, House of Representatives, Senate, Governorship or President they will say PDP is bad.
“PDP is bad because of the philosophy of people like Adolf Hitler which says if you say a wrong thing a thousand times, it becomes the right thing. We believe that if we do not have a party as robust as the PDP, probably, the republic would have collapsed. This is because we witnessed what happened in the first republic. Because we witnessed what happened in the first republic and we know the circumstances that led to the collapse of the first and second republics.
PDP stabilising democracy in the country—Jonathan
“We know what is happening in other African countries. If the ruling party over intimidates and over imposes, using the weight of the federal government and the citizens revolt, it weakens the political system and creates confusion and instability. But the PDP, though we control the federal government, we operate a system that the opposition even flies higher than us. They abuse us more, but we allow it. And it is the PDP that is handling the affairs of the country that is stabilizing the democracy in the country.”
Noting the government’s change of agenda from the pre-election focus on jobs towards security enhancement, he said: “During our campaign, our emphasis was on job creation, power, but now what worries us more is security because you must even be alive before you eat food. So, if you are not safe, you can’t even think about hunger because a dead person does not eat food. With the situation of things now in the country, the most serious issue in the country is security. I will not give a comprehensive report here, but we will do that some other time. We have talked about food security but we you can’t have food without personal security.”
President Jonathan also reiterated the need for members of the party to work together by reducing friction in the party, adding that most of the states the PDP lost followed some irreconcilable differences among members hence it has become imperative for the overhauling of bodies of the party like the Caucus and Board of Trustees, BoT.
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