The All Progressives Congress on Tuesday slammed President Goodluck Jonathan over his ‘angry reaction’ to Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima’s statement over the Boko Haram menace.
The APC said the President’s anger justified its earlier call on Jonathan to shelve his reported plan to replace the governor with a military administrator.
The APC said this in a statement by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Abuja, on Tuesday.
According to the opposition party, the President should apologise to Nigerians for the anger he exhibited while commenting on Shettima’s statement on the Boko Haram insurgency during Monday’s presidential media chat.
The statement partly read, “President Jonathan should know that a leader cannot afford to be taking decisions on the basis of a perceived slight or criticism, because such decisions are most likely to be wrong and counter-productive.
“He should also use his enormous powers as President for the benefit of the people, not to their disadvantage.
“By his threat to pull out the troops from Borno for one month, he has further victimised the good people of the state, who have been at the receiving end of the senseless attacks by Boko Haram.”
The APC said a retraction of his threat and an apology to the people would be a good starting point for the President to make amends.
It condemned the President’s “vituperation” against Shettima during his media chat, describing such as “unwarranted, unpresidential and petty.”
The party declared that Jonathan was wrong to have threatened to withdraw from Borno the troops who had been battling against Boko Haram insurgents, and urged him to apologise to the people of Borno and to all Nigerians for the presidential indiscretion.
It said the threat, which was in response to the statement credited to the governor that the soldiers needed to be better equipped and more motivated, showed clearly that Jonathan did not have a full grasp of what is expected of him as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
The party said, “Mr. President, your most important duty as President is to ensure the welfare and security of all Nigerians, irrespective of the criticisms you may face or whether or not they voted for you. Therefore, you are not doing anyone a favour by performing that duty. It is the role you swore an oath to perform.
“Also, even if you feel that the governor should not have made the statement he made, it is incumbent upon you, as the President and the father of the nation, to take the higher road, instead of choosing a public forum to air your grievances.
“Wittingly or unwittingly, Mr. President, you have played into the hands of the insurgents who must by now be gloating at the discordant tunes in government over the battle against them.”
Copyright PUNCH.
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