Nigerians slam Jonathan over His 2015 Re-Election Plans

 

Some Nigerians have described President Goodluck Jonathan as an insensitive leader. 

This followed his moves to formally declare his re-election bid amid his administration’s 

failure to ensure the release of the 219 Chibok girls abducted six months ago in Borno State

 by the violent Boko Karam sect and other sundry problems facing Nigeria under his 

leadership.

They said they were worried that the President seemed to have abandoned his responsibility

 of protecting lives and the property of the citizens while focusing on his re-election ambition.

The President had on Thursday set up a Presidential Declaration Committee with a former 

Minister of Defence, Dr. Bello Haliru, appointed as the chairman.

Former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, was appointed as the Deputy Chairman and

 Senator Anyim Pius Anyim will serve as secretary of the committee. The declaration will

 hold on November 11, 2014.
But President Jonathan had insisted some years back that he would not stay in office 

beyond 2015.

However, according to Punch, concerned Nigerians believe that the President ought to have

 secured the release of the girls before he declares his intention to seek re-election.

The Executive Director, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, Adetokunbo 

Mumuni, said the fact that the President had chosen to concern himself about returning to 

power at this time amounted to insensitivity.

Mumuni, who spoke with one of our correspondents in a telephone interview on Thursday,

 said the President could simply have delayed his declaration until when the Chibok girls are 

rescued.

He said, “But in Nigeria, politicians at all levels, not just the President, think mostly about

 the moment rather than the future. It has become customary that they don’t bother about the

 situation in the country when their political career is concerned.

“There were reports that the girls would be released last Monday but this is the end of the

 week and nothing has happened. What the President should have done was to address the nation on this issue and tell us why nothing has happened.”

The Executive Director, Centre for Citizens with Disabilities, Mr. David Anyaele, expressed

 worry over the President’s seeming reluctance to prove to Nigerians that he could provide 

adequate security for them.

He, however, urged the President to ensure that the Chibok girls are rescued immediately.

He said, “Nigerians should demand that the President should produce the girls right now to

 show he has the capacity to provide security for the country beyond 2015 and that he is not

 insensitive.”

The spokesperson for the #BringBackOurGirls Campaign, Mr. Rotimi Olawale, who spoke on

 behalf of the parents of the Chibok girls, said it would be unfair to the abducted girls for the

 President to put politics above their safe return.

He said, “For us at BBOG campaign, one of the things we have been demanding is that we

 need to see a resolve from the Presidency that rescuing the Chibok girls and other boys and

 girls who have been kidnapped in the past remain number one on the agenda of the Federal

 Government of Nigeria.

“Unfortunately, this is a time we have different political intrigues and the 2015 elections close

 by. Sometimes we feel they have placed politics above the return of the girls.

“We demand that the government should rescue the girls and communicate with the families

 of the girls who have been kept in the dark since the news broke that there was a ceasefire

 and a negotiation.”

An Abuja-based lawyer and social commentator, Mr. Jide Oluyemi, believed that it was 

shameful for the President to seek re-election in the midst of serious security crisis,

 especially in the North-East.

He said that the action showed that the President was not sensitive to the plight of Nigerians.

Oluyemi said, “Six months ago, Boko Haram abducted over 200 Chibok schoolgirls and they

 have yet to return home. There are thousands of people displaced and yet President 

Goodluck Jonathan still has the gut to declare his ambition to seek re-election.

“This is insensitivity at its greatest height; this is unfair to many Nigerians who have lost their

 loved ones to the insurgency in the North. This display of insensitivity must stop. He should

 address the insecurity first and lay aside his ambition for now. He was not properly advised

 on this one.”