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‘FG won’t allow parallel government after polls’

By Isa Abdulsalami Ahovi (Jos) and Kelvin Ebiri (Port Harcourt)
25 January 2015   |   9:00 pm
• Jonathan campaigns in Jos Monday THE presidency has vowed to thwart any attempt by the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to actualize its threat to form a parallel government if it loses next month’s presidential election.   It observed that instead of the APC  working towards consolidation of the on going democratisation process, the…

OYEGUN

• Jonathan campaigns in Jos Monday

THE presidency has vowed to thwart any attempt by the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to actualize its threat to form a parallel government if it loses next month’s presidential election.

  It observed that instead of the APC  working towards consolidation of the on going democratisation process, the party is allegedly trying to instigate a major political upheaval in the country if President Goodluck Jonathan is re-elected  next month.

 Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan will arrive Jos, the Plateau State capital Monday in continuation of his presidential campaign.

 The minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe, while inspecting the Rwang Pam Township Stadium, said that all was set for the visit by the President. She admonished the youth not to sow the seed of violence during the general elections in order to reap the dividends of democracy from their leaders.

 Reacting to reports of violence among some youths during the President’s visit to Katsina and Bauchi states, Ochekpe said she was optimistic that the youths in Plateau State will conduct themselves peacefully.

  The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme,  Kingsley Kuku, spoke on the threat of parallel government at an ethnic nationality summit held in Port Harcourt, River State yesterday.

 Addressing the leadership of the various youth organizations drawn from the Niger Delta, he said the presidency has resolved to ensure that the 2015 election would be devoid of manipulation, but irrespective of this disposition, the APC has been setting the tone for crisis by threatening to form an alternative government if it loses the February 14, 2015 presidential election.

  According to Kuku, if the APC is confident that it would win the presidential election, why resort to threats and blackmail. He warned that Nigeria is too big for any group of people to contemplate the idea of forming an alternative government when there already exists a legitimate administration voted into office by Nigerians. According to him, “it is distressing that some persons from certain part of the country are bent on wresting power at all cost despite the fact that other parts of the country had waited for 38 years and seven months to have a taste of leadership.”

  The presidential aide said certain reforms initiated by President Jonathan, which threatens a decadent status quo, remains the principal reasons for the resistance against Jonathan’s reelection bid. He cautioned those bent on  thwarting the reelection bid of President Jonathan to be circumspective in order not to plunge the country into a major political crisis that might eventually culminate in Jonathan being the last president of a united Nigeria.

“Let us not do things that will make President Jonathan become the last united Nigeria’s president. The way we manage the country in the next few weeks will determine if we will remain one united country,” he said.

 Kuku recalled that prior to the 2011 general elections, certain political figures who are now members of the APC had threatened that there would be unrest if President Jonathan should win the election. He noted that true to their words, violence which resulted in the death of many persons including members of the National Youth Service Corps, was unleashed in some parts of the country, but regrettably, chieftains of political parties that later metamorphose into the APC never condemned the wanton destruction of lives and property in 2011.

  Kuku explained that irrespective of the opposition and gang up against President Jonathan, he would continue to run the affairs of the country with human face and would not resort to the tyranny as some people had done in the past.

  On the issue of Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, he said some people are not happy that President Jonathan has not resorted to the use of brutal force to quell the insurgency. Instead, the president, based on his conviction for a united Nigeria, had offered Boko Haram members amnesty on several occasions and yet they have declined.  To this end, he said the government finds it disturbing that some persons are bent on taking vengeance against the former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Onyeabor Azubuike Ihejirika, when they take over power, just because he tried to combat Boko Haram which is threatening the corporate existence of the Nigerian federation.  

  The leadership of the various ethnic nationalities condemned the incessant attack on President Jonathan’s campaign team in the north and demanded for immediate restrain in order not to instigate similar acts in the south. They also resolved to work together to ensure the reelection of the president.

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