Right of Reply: Re- The Call for Jonathan to Resign

Source: huhuonline.com

I only read it this morning and it was said to have been credited to one of the northern leaders. I was amazed at the wordings either our dear elder brother Mallam Adamu Ciroma who is very well known, very well loved by Nigerians was misquoted or somehow  he said it in anger.

The issue of asking the president of the federal republic of Nigeria to resign I think does not arise, we are talking of politics. When we are talking about politics at the very early stages because we are only talking about the primaries in our party. Mallam Adamu Ciroma and the other aspirants belong to the PDP and of course including Dr. Goodluck Jonathan even though he is currently the president of Nigeria, he is also aspiring. For a president to react the way he did I think he did it for the best interest of Nigerians. Something happened, Nigerians died in the process and that is considered a terrorist act what do you expect the president to say?

 
Of course some people came out to say we are the ones who did it, the President didn't say they are not the ones, but said they want to investigate, they want to find out what happened and not to make the mundane of the situation whereby you say it is MEND that did it and then you forget. That is terrible for a country, we consider ourselves to be one of the super powers in the world and then something happens, we have to find out who actually did it, not somebody who said he did it or he claims he did it in other to shield some other people or possible causes. I think the president did well, and to call him to resign is too harsh.

 
Leadership of Nigeria is so important and cannot be slaughtered on the alters of primary politics. Afterall all these people talking are either contesting for primaries like President Jonathan or they want to lead us finally, we should not be seen to be talking like this, this is an internal affair.

 
If you want to lead, you must be prepared to listen; you must be prepared to respect whoever is your leader at that time. We have a president even though is an aspirant we should therefore respect him. We have seen how American politics is played, we have watched them with keen interest, things don't degenerate into personal attacks, so we should respect our president as a president who happens to be an aspirant. And therefore the question of asking him to resign if true, I think it should be retracted.  

  The other aspect they talked of impeachment, I have been a legislature and I know the process of impeachment, I know what constitute an impeachment, I know what you require to impeach the president or whoever, so the issue of impeachment again to me is misplaced. If you are representing a group in Nigeria and you call for impeachment you need the other side to also impeach. You can't just say you want to impeach just because you belong to a group, you need the support and understanding of other members of the National Assembly.  

  From the way I saw them debate things yesterday and today I was happy with their approach to the whole thing. They want to investigate what happened, sent condolences to the president and families, this is the way it should be and not the way it is going, what is the offence of President Jonathan in this?  

  The President is usually a very claim individual, he never will get angry. He spoke more openly this time because it was a serious offence, it shows he is a good leader, he cares about Nigeria. This is the way he spoke loudly and he wants this thing to be investigated thoroughly and is ongoing. We do not want the government to be derailed in trying to finding out the truth of this matter. So the question of impeachment to me is also misplaced.  

  The call by Lawal Kaita and his group to make the country ungovernable what is your take on that?

  That again is unfortunate if indeed Senator Lawal Kaita who was also a former governor of old Kaduna State, both of them know what is meant by power, you cannot be in power and be calling for a state of anarchy. No responsible government will allow this and I am sure that the eyes and ears of government will be opened and focused on whoever made that statement. If it was actually made is unfortunate. To me if you want to rule or looking for that office for your client and you are saying you want to make the country ungovernable how do you want to get it, I mean that is ridiculous. God said whatever you want for others you should want for yourself and I believe that whoever wants to take that office as president will not want to make it bad for another person because you hope to get it one day. If he said so it is unfortunate and is not statemanly at all.  

  Do you see this as a ploy to distract Nigerians?

  Well, all the aspirants are responsible PDP members and we are working for an aspirant in the PDP, it is the same party. If and I hope not, they do not want us to have a smooth transition then it is too bad, people are not suppose to play that kind of politics. Whether is IBB, Atiku, Saraki, Gasau or Jonathan, whoever gets it, it is PDP, why should we be bothered at this stage? We are all struggling, we have not reached the point where we should start quarrelling, and this is why our own campaign organization decided not to talk, not to quarrel with anybody not to mention the name. I find it difficult to mention names.

 
  On my own as a campaign director general of our organization, I have reached out to other two campaign DG of others and I told them that we should keep in touch because we are brothers, if we notice something we should talk to ourselves and see how we can solve it rather than allow small microscopic party come take over what rightly belongs to the PDP.

 
 
If any one of them defeats us, we belonging to Goodluck Jonathan we will accept. For instance, Clinton and Obama had the hottest campaign but when it finally happens, today one is serving the other and life continues. This is how politics should be played in this country.

 
Dalhatu Tafida