President Goodluck Jonathan for the first time yesterday said that the Northeast governors should be held responsible for the raging insurgency in the zone.
Jonathan, who spoke at the Northeast zonal rally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bauchi, said that the governors more than anyone else, should take responsibility for the reign of terror imposed by members of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram on Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States.
“It is shameful for a governor who has stayed in power in his state for up to six years or more to come to me and talk about bad leadership when you have youth in your state, more than half of whom have not attended primary school and you are doing nothing about it.
“State Governors should be ashamed when our children do not go to primary and secondary schools and they decide to carry arms.
“We had insecurity challenges in Bayelsa when I was deputy governor and later governor and we handled them. It is not the duty of the Federal Government to send children to Primary and Secondary schools but it is the constitutional right of the Federal Government to make sure children attend tertiary institutions which we have done.
“How can you allow hungry youths to just go out and start killing people? Bayelsa was the first state in Nigeria that witnessed commercial kidnapping and we tackled it,” he said.
He described the situation as very sad but pledged that the federal government would do its best to redress the situation.
“It is very sad what is happening in the Northeast but as a government we are working very hard to ensure that peace is brought back to the Northeast and the region’s glory will surely be restored. These challenges are only temporary,” President Goodluck said.
He also promised to provide opportunities for the creation of wealth and infrastructure in the Northeast.
Expressing appreciation that the zone is facing serious security challenges, he said government would tackle the security challenges in the country to guarantee free movement of Nigerians.
“Boko Haram in the North East, kidnapping in the South South or armed robbery in the South East, we must bring them to a reasonable control,“ he said.
He vowed that the PDP would reclaim Adamawa, retain Taraba and take over Borno and Yobe States.
He noted that those claiming to be strong opposition in Adamawa state are only “living with one vote.”
Other speakers who spoke at the rally acknowledged the insecurity in the region.
The National Chairman of the PDP, Adamu Muazu, called on aspirants in the party to go back to their villages and seek the people’s mandate, stressing that there is no God Father in PDP today.
He said: “Only the God of Adam and Eve that can give you power. All our people who want to seek political officers should go back to their villages and ask the people for their mandate because the simple definition of Democracy means Power to the People by the People and for the People. So you don’t need a God father to win election in PDP today.”
Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State, who spoke for his colleagues, said they would deliver the zone to the PDP in next year’s elections.
‘’The entire Northeast is a PDP Zone and it will remain under the control of PDP come 2015 general elections,’’ he boasted.
Yuguda praised Jonathan for initiating and completing several development projects in the zone but pleaded for the completion of the Kafin Zaki Dam in the Ganjuwa local government area of the state.
