Boko Haram: N/East Govs To Blame, Says Jonathan

It was a moment of truth yesterday in Bauchi during the North-East zonal rally of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as President Goodluck Jonathan took governors in the country to the cleaners for accusing the Federal Government of bad leadership, asking them to stop passing the buck and take responsibility for their failure to provide their citizens with basic primary and secondary education.

He lashed out at governors of the states worse hit by Boko Haram, saying their failure to provide quality education and jobs for the youths made them ready tools in the hands of sponsors of terrorism.

He said, “Sometimes governors will come and say we have some issues because of bad leadership. I was governor, deputy governor before I became a governor. I spent eight years at the state level, I handled security challenges. That was the state where the first commercial kidnapping took place because of excess militancy.

“More than 70 % of the state is swamp. I knew how we handled things. A governor will come and say bad leadership, bad leadership from whom? If we have security challenges, whether you call them Boko Haram or whatever, these are people who couldn’t go to primary school, who couldn’t go to secondary school and they have no hope and miscreants or criminals now recruit them and using them; if you see what they wear, they wear rags and not normal clothes; all what they put on their bodies is not worth N10, but they carry rifles and bullets that are worth more than N250, 000. Somebody gives them food to eat so that they can kill.

“You ask how did we build this army of unemployed or unemployable youth? The Federal Government does not control primary education; it does not control secondary education, and a governor has been on seat for almost eight years and we have people in that state that can’t go to primary school, that can’t go to secondary school. You say bad leadership, who is the bad leader? Is it the Federal Government? I made sure that every state has a university. That is the responsibility of the Federal Government and I have done it.

“Governors must make sure that our children go to primary school, governors must make sure that our children go to secondary school. Somebody hide under the cover of politics and cannot do it in eight years or seven years plus. We still have do many children in your state that cannot go to primary school, not going to secondary school and you open your mouth to say bad leadership; is it the
Federal Government or Mr. President that should come and take your children to primary schools? Federal Government by the constitution faces tertiary education”.

Earlier in his remarks, PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, who reiterated that aspirants must go to their wards, local governments and states to convince the people to vote for them, as the era of godfatherism was over, disclosed that all congresses in the 36 states and Abuja would be televised live for people to watch.

In his remarks, Vice President Namadi Sambo disclosed that all closed schools in the zone would be re-opened soon.

Also in his remarks, Chairman, PDP Board of Trustees, BoT, Chief Tony Anenih, who noted that the  Jonathan-led administration has done much for the North-east, said that one good turn must deserve another when the time comes.

The Senate President, David Mark, who hailed the present administration as being built on justice, social equity and transparency, also commended the transformation agenda of the Jonathan administration saying it had impacted positively on Nigerians, especially those in the North-East despite the insurgency bedeviling the region. He then called on the president to do more even as he reiterated the National Assembly’s commitment towards making laws that are people friendly.