President Goodluck Jonathan has been accused of fomenting trouble and creating disharmony in the South South region where he hails from.
Opposition party grouping, Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), in Cross River State made the accusation against the backdrop of lingering feud between the President and Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi.
In an interview with Cletus Obun, Cross River State Chairman of Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), in Calabar on Sunday, said the numerous battle fronts allegedly opened by Jonathan in the country, especially in the South South region, defeats the very essence of the agitation that saw to his emergence as substantive President of Nigeria.
“For me the immediate response I will give to this, and which should bother every Nigerian, is that if Jonathan is fighting from his backyard, it shows him clearly as a man who has become rudderless.
“He has lost bearing and, therefore, it has become imperative for Nigerians to save him from himself first. Jonathan needs help, immediate help.
“And that help is to save himself from degeneration into a pocket dictator; pocket dictator in the sense that while Boko Haram and other security challenges are facing the country, he goes on to engage in shadow boxing at home.
“He began with (Timipre) Sylva, moved on to Cross River, Akwa Ibom; pitched Akwa Ibom against Cross River, now he is moving into Rivers, generating crisis between Bayelsa and Rivers over oil wells, and now he is fighting with (Rotimi) Amaechi.
“Otherwise, we cannot understand how a President of a country cannot allow a state, especially within his own zone. The very purpose for which we were agitating that minorities should have a President has been defeated,” Obun said.
The CNPP chairman also blamed the numerous problems besetting Nigeria on the President’s inaction and inadequate sense of judgement, saying, “The Presidency, more than Boko Haram, is the major problem of our country today.”
Obun who advocated a change in leadership in the Presidency during the next general elections, for Nigeria to survive, added: “Therefore, we are praying to God that we will be able to carry this bull out of this China shop, so that at least we can preserve the China shop called Nigeria for a better and more responsible and responsive government and Presidency in 2015.
“Otherwise, he is aiding the American prophecy and projection that Nigeria will no longer exist.”
National Publicity Secretary of the CNPP, Osita Okechukwu, also spoke on Sunday, calling on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to investigate and prosecute ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo over alleged corruption discovered in the Natural Resource Funds under his administration.
The CNPP noted that the alleged monumental corruption was unveiled last week by the Public Accounts Committee of the Senate.
In a statement Okechukwu recalled that “the Senate Public Accounts Committee led by Senator Ahmed Lawan last week gave details of how N701.4 billion out of N1.5 trillion slush fund created in 2002, by then President Obasanjo contradicts Sections 80(2) and 162 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, was squandered.”
The group expressed the view that “the Natural Resource Fund was the foundation of the unprecedented corruption which generated unintended fault lines of militants in the Niger Delta, Boko Haram insurgency and kidnapping.
“The slush fund was no doubt created with the predetermined objective to enrich Chief Obasanjo and cohorts; otherwise where is the N750m Abuja Downtown Mall, N20.2 billion loan among other missing funds?
“CNPP had earlier in 2007 petitioned the EFCC questioning the pervasive and monumental corruption that took place under Chief Obasanjo’s watch.
“Now that Chief Obasanjo had openly challenged the anti-graft agencies and the President Goodluck Jonathan administration to probe his administration; Nigerians expect the EFCC and ICPC to execute their mandate. His probe will be a lesson for future leaders,” the statement added.
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