Some Nigerians have expressed concern about President Goodluck Jonathan over his comments on the death or otherwise of Abubakar Shekau — the leader of the fundamentalist sect, Boko Haram; as well as his perception about the depth of corruption in Nigeria.
While fielding questions from a panel of journalists during the Presidential Media Chat in Abuja on Sunday, Jonathan had said, “I don’t know whether he (Shekau) is dead or alive. I don’t know him and I have not seen him before.”
He also stated that the perception of corruption by Nigerians is different from reality, noting that “Everyone talks as if corruption is our number one problem. But corruption is not Nigeria’s biggest problem. The key thing is access to finance, infrastructure…”
Many Nigerians who took to social media to express their opinion on the issue on Monday said they were not impressed by Jonathan’s grasp of issues.
They argued that while they believe that Shekau could not be simultaneously alive and dead, Jonathan, as the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, ought to know the state of affairs of the leader of the sect that has been snuffing lives out of innocent Nigerians with impunity.
A Twitter user, Elenathan John, says since Jonathan as the Chief Security Officer of the nation does not know if the country’s most wanted terrorist is alive or dead, Nigerians are in serious trouble.
“How Jonathan could open his mouth and say, ‘I don’t know if he is dead or alive…you journalists should know more than us,’ beats me. That is irresponsibility. Our number one terrorist suspect! Our own Osama bin Laden! He is joking about not knowing where he is or if he is alive.”
On Facebook, one Bello Abdullahi described the President’s statement on Shekau as “confusion at the topmost level.”
“You mean your security details have not given you (Jonathan) the right report on him, whether dead or alive? My goodness!” Another Facebook user, Deya Ezekiel laments.
An angry Kazeem Bisiriyu, after describing the President’s statement as “shameful” called for Jonathan’s resignation over his statement on Shekau.
“This is shameful. If the Chief Security Officer of Nigeria can tell the whole world that he is not sure if the Boko Haram leader is dead or alive, the best thing he should do is to tender his resignation,” Bisiriyu states on Facebook.
On Jonathan’s take on the depth of corruption in the polity, they argued that the President is out of touch with the scale of the problem. According to them, the only devil standing between Nigeria and the realisation of her developmental dreams is the menace of corruption which, they said, had eaten deep into the body fabric of the nation.
A reader on punchng.com, Maurice Oguh, writes, “I disagree with my admirable President. If you take corruption out of our national life, every other thing shall automatically fall in place. The right people will get the right jobs, contracts and positions. And we will begin to achieve better results. Therefore, sir, corruption is our number one problem. Solve it and you would have solved 75 per cent of our problems.”
Also, another reader on punchng.com with the name Adoki, while disagreeing with the President says, “Pardon me, Mr. President, but you cannot say that corruption is not our greatest problem because it definitely is.
“I don’t know what you mean by ‘access to finance,’ but I do know that good people don’t like to put their money into a system they know is plagued by corruption.
“And how can you expect adequate infrastructure development if most of the money allocated to that sector is stolen by corrupt officials? While corrupt businessmen may just find Nigeria an ideal place to do business, the rest of us ultimately bear the brunt of a corrupt system.”
A prolific Twitter user, Kayode Ogundamisi, also notes that for the President to admit that corruption is not the number one problem of the country shows his level of incompetence.
“The Presidential Media Chat exposes the fact that Jonathan is completely detached from reality. So sad! The President is completely ignorant of the reality of Nigeria and what is happening around him. We all need to pray for Goodluck Jonathan; it appears his aides are not helping matters. What a tragedy!”
Punch
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