Jonathan echoes Iyabo, says Nigeria does not belong to any politician
A few days after President Goodluck Jonathan responded to an 18-page letter from former President Olusegun Obasanjo to him and the blistering attack thereof, the president has again aimed a punch at the soft underbelly of those who have made a profession of criticizing him.
Obasanjo had in his letter, which he captioned with omnious title, Before it too late, in which he catalogued the failings of Jonathan's administration and how he was drivng Nigeria down the cliff.
Jonathan said that Christmas offers a fresh opportunity for introspection and reflection by politicians and realization that Nigeria does not belong to any one.
Incidentally, these are the same words used by the daughter of the former President Obasanjo, Iyabo, in her blistering letter to the dad last week.
The president spoke during a Chrsitmas service on Wednesday at the Diocese of Abuja, The Cathedral Church of the Advent in Lifecamp, Abuja.
He said, 'For us at this time especially we the politicians that we think we own this country begin to think about next election and doing what we ought not to do, making statement we ought not to make, writing letters we suppose not to write.' He added,'I call on clergymen and statesmen who really own this country because this country belongs to our statesmen, traditional rulers, religious leaders, our men, our women, our youth. Nigeria does not belong to any politician or group of politicians. So we continue to urge you to pray for this country.'
The president, while speaking on the wave of terrorism, insinuated that contrary to wrong impressions created by opposing politicians, the fight against terrorism is hardly ever a finished
According to the president, 'The primate mentioned number of issues that deal with a number of nations that deals with crisis. For those who know about terrorism, countries that are infested with terror will hardly get out of it. If you look at country like Pakistan, we even go to Pakistan to train our soldiers, in some parts of Pakistan as we are talking now there appears to be no government. So this country could have been worse.' 'Look at the incidences in Abuja, even the police headquarters was bombed, the UN building right here in the seat of government, may be the next target would have been State House. So we have to thank God that we have been able to bring it to a reasonable level, though we are far from getting over. There are a lot of challenges but we have to thank God.
'Primate said if it were to be like Syria, what would we have done? Look at South Sudan they were part of Sudan and they felt that they were being dominated, they have resources, there is oil in part of South Sudan, they carried arms against the state, finally the whole world through the UN liberated them. In fact within this week we will be going for security council meeting under the AU. My envoy just came back on Sunday from where he had conversation with them on how do we stop this madness.
'So we have to thank God even though we still have this security challenges in our country at least we are reasonably better.
'In terms of Nigeria having crisis, the primate was mentioning can Ghana accommodate us, can Sierra Leone accommodate us. I was just laughing because even now Nigerians in these countries, the people are not even comfortable, we don't have crisis but from Cameroon to Senegal, Nigerians are everywhere. If not for political and diplomatic reasons they would have even asked some of them to leave. Then assuming we have crisis, what would be the state, where will you go? Is it the Atlantic Ocean? So I urge you to continue to pray.' 'I also thank the religious leaders of this country, they have been praying and I believe God has been hearing our prayers. We will do our best within the period that God has asked us to occupy the positions we are occupying.'