The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, yesterday lampooned the opposition parties for calling on President Goodluck Jonathan to resign as a result of the abduction of 276 girls by Boko Haram.
Anenih, who made his position known in a statement in Abuja, faulted some opposition leaders for demanding Jonathan’s resignation, adding that no President could have done better within constitutional limit than Jonathan had done in handling the insurgency in the Northeast.
“ I also understand the anger that has been expressed through the global #BringBackOurGirls movement and wish to state that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are fully committed to ensuring the safe return of our daughters.
“I must, however, deplore the situation where some opposition politicians have tried to make political issues out of it by calling for the resignation of President Jonathan over a group that is waging war against the Nigerian state.
“Such behaviour is unbecoming of patriotic citizens of a democratic nation like Nigeria. When militants gunmen attacked a shopping mall in Kenya, killing many people and holding many others hostage, the opposition leader, Rahila Odinga, stood right beside the President, Uhuru Kenyatta, while the latter was addressing Kenyans on the dastardly attack.
“We are all witnesses to the fact that when al-Qaeda attacked the United States of America and the United Kingdom, citizens of those countries, irrespective of political affiliations, closed ranks and supported their respective Governments in their fight against the perpetrators of terror. In these specific cases, political opponents did not ask their President/ Prime minister to resign,” he said.
Anenih said no Nigerian President could have done better in addressing Boko Haram within
Don’t mind those ass lickers called opposition
The examples cited by Chief Anenih with regards to terrorist attacks in the US and Kenya were to do with external terrorists rather than domestic terrorists. Clearly, the confidence and impunity with which Boko Haram – a domestic terrorist body – has continued to operate indicates the weakness of the Nigerian state, led by President Jonathan, to effectively respond and protect Nigerians.
The political opposition will certainly exploit such weakness of the President as we are not fighting a foreign enemy here; the opposition would rather sympathize with the victims and blame the president for the inability of his government to protect Nigerians. If you were a victim you too would blame the president. The political opposition is indicating that it can do better than President Jonathan.
The Nigerian Police and the Nigerian Army are not well organized to deal with local terrorists that live and operate amongst the people because they don’t have the local intelligence and sensitivity required to deal with the problem, hence the indiscriminate use of force by the Nigerian Army with several civilian casualties. All well-meaning Nigerians should be concerned about civilian casualties as none of us would like such to happen in our own community. President Jonathan should seriously consider opening up national debate about “community policing” (as opposed to “state policing”) so that the people are locally equipped to deal with the problem. The community police can receive funding and reinforcement, where/when necessary, to battle such domestic terrorist problems in their communities.
The write up of Chief Anineh has continued to attract attention and reactions from people. TA’s response also caught my own attention. I wish that TA understands clearly the statement made by Chief Anineh, that Mr GEJ, is working within his constitutional framwork. GEJ IS NOT A DICTATOR. Remember, this is democratic administration and it is made up of three arms. It is not just the executive arm that makes up the government, so why should, only GEJ resign, still, why should only the executive resign?
I was actually looking out for meaningful suggestion for a way forward. It will be good to make objective contributions concering how to face boko haram as a matter of national security and patrotic responsibility. What will the opposition party do if they take over the government? They simply want to come in and do what is not clear to us. Must they be in the executive before they make suggestions on how to make Nigeria better? Look at the Legislative arm and ask why they have not promulgated rules that needs executive signature. We must learn to understand that democracy has to do with freedom of expression and division fo powers. Nigerian problems never started with GEJ and will definitly not going to stop with him. Security issue is every person’s problems.