Second
Republic federal lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, yesterday dispelled fears that
Nigeria would break if President Goodluck Jonathan was not allowed a second
term in office in 2015.
Mohammed
pointed out that the country had gone beyond the stage of disintegrating on
account of the electoral fortune of one man.
The
political commentator made the claim in reaction to the assertion by former
Anambra State governor, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, that Nigeria would break up if
President Goodluck Jonathan was not allowed a second term in office.
President
Goodluck Jonathan wave to the crowd shortly after the conferment of se -lo-lia
(Star of the Nation) on him during the courtesy visit to the king for the
burial of the first Lady’s mother , Madam fynface Oba in Okireka , River state
…yesterday
The
former governor had said in an interview with Vanguard that the issue of
Nigeria’s continued existence and second term for Jonathan were inseparable and
that any attempt by any group under any guise to deny Jonathan of his second
term could lead to unintended consequences.
One of
the consequences, according to Ezeife, is that aggrieved Niger Delta militants
would blow up oil facilities and threaten the future existence of the country.
But Mohammed
while responding to the issue on the phone from Kano, described Ezeife as the
wrong person to issue such a threat at a time when the country was already
boiling because of careless actions and utterances of loose politicians in the
country.
Mohammed,
who was apparently irked by the assertion by the former governor, accused him
of stoking avoidable fire so as to win the sympathy of President Jonathan for
political patronage, which he had been denied since leaving office many years
ago.
The
northern political commentator noted that it was out of place for a former
governor, who is regarded as an elder to forget where he was coming from and
dance naked in the open just for cheap popularity and political patronage.
Mohammed
said: “It is unfortunate that Ezeife, who witness the Biafran war
orchestrated by his kinsmen, which claimed over one million of Igbo people,
should be beating the drums of war today.
“It is,
therefore, clear to all that the man has lost touch with reality and is merely
playing to the gallery for selfish motives.
“People
like Ezeife are perpetual political opportunists in the Nigerian political
arena and should be ignored especially when they fan the embers of ethnicity
and war in time of peace such as we have in Nigeria.
“My
candid advice to Nigerians is that they should ignore him because he does not
have a good sense of history and does not speak for anyone in Nigeria.”
Mohammed
also dismissed the claim that Niger Delta militants would blow up oil
facilities and divide the country if Jonathan lost the next election, saying
that with a credible administration in place, terrorists would not have a place
in the scheme of things.
“Contrary
to Ezeife’s postulation, Niger Delta militants or any terrorist group cannot be
a threat to a government that emerges through credible, free and fair election
in Nigeria,” Mohammed said.
Ezeife
had warned: “Everybody can make noise but if those who are making
noise should think deeply, they would realize that the continued existence of
Nigeria as one country is anchored on Jonathan’s continuation in office come
2015.”
On what
would happen if President Jonathan contested the election and lost, he said:
“We would be faced with the same problem.
“The
Niger Delta boys would blow up all the oil pipelines and then a part of the
country could say they are no longer interested in Nigeria; they could say
Nigeria legally expired when the nation marked its centenary and that they are
now on their own.
“This is
not what I want, but I am afraid it could happen if we foolishly think of only
our short term interest, instead of thinking of long term implications.
Vanguard
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