The second term bid of President Goodluck
Jonathan in 2015 may be heading for the rocks as some prominent kinsmen of the
President are lamenting that they have been neglected by their son.
The President is said to have dumped
his kinsmen shortly after his presidential election was hardly fought and won
last year without any recourse to the other ethnic groups that made that
victory possible.
A credible source close to the Ijaw
National Congress (INC), said that every entreaty to have an audience with the
President has failed to yield any fruitful result as he turned down four
letters written to him for a private audience all of which fell on deaf ears.
“After the election, the Congress
has written four times to the President for an audience, but he turns them
down. We were supposed to approach other ethnic groups and say thank you to
them for helping us last year in the election.
“It is very important we do that
because if we don’t, then it will be very difficult in our demand for 2015.
These groups had helped us and we need to show our appreciation for their
understanding in the last election”, the source told Sunday
Independent.
He pointed out that the INC was
billed to meet with Arewa Consultative Forum and other such regional bodies, but “the
President has not made things easy for us. He is only engaging one person who
presents himself as the spokesman of the Ijaw race and the President listens to
him.”
The source explains that the
President has literarily backed off of the National Lawmakers from the Niger
Delta region and is rather romancing with the other tribes, particularly those
from the South East geo-political zone.
“Our lawmakers are equally
complaining that even if they want to see the President they have to pass
through lawmakers from other regions who command the attention of the President.
But even at that, they don’t enjoy a robust relationship with him at that level
which is very bad to our interest.”
Another source hinted that the
President is only deceiving himself for trying to post a nationalistic posture
of a non-detribalised President.
“Even though he is the President of
Nigeria, he comes from a particular source. Why is he deceiving himself that he
does not know where he comes from?
“Jonathan promised that he was going
to see the INC in the secret. Why must he see us in secret? Are we in a secret
society or what? He should know that Edwin Clark cannot and will not speak for
the Ijaws. He speaks for himself and himself alone and not the Ijaws,” he said.
“Clark is an opportunistic fellow. I
cannot take him seriously,” our source said, adding that “certain persons were
responsible for the ethnic crisis that ravaged the city of Warri because they
were saying one thing to one tribe and a different one to another tribe on the
same issue.”
Asked whether Jonathan will still
have the full support of his people for re-election in 2015 despite the frosty
relationship between him and his kinsmen, the source who is also a member of The
Patriot said it will be very difficult for him to have the support of
the region.
“I don’t see him having the kind of
support we gave to him in 2011. It will be difficult. Except he performs
wonders in the next two years which I doubt, he can. Only few people who are
close to him and are from Ogbia where he comes from who are benefitting from
the system.”
According to the source, in the last
meeting organised by The
Patriot in Lagos State, the issue of Jonathan’s second term was said to
have been mentioned. But “sadly, we could not defend him because it would be
stupid to do that when there is nothing on ground.”
Commenting on this, a popular Ijaw
critic, Ann-Kio Briggs regretted that President Jonathan was yet to fulfill all
the pre-election promises that he made to Nigerians, adding that people defied
all odds and came out en-mass to vote for him because they had hope in him.
“Things are really getting worse now
than before. What we expected from Jonathan was to take decisions that will be
in the interest of Nigerians. Where is the power that he promised us? Where are
the roads that he said he would fix?
“Where is the fight against
corruption? We want to see the development of the Niger Delta. Yar’Adua
promised us that he would empower the people who were in the creeks of the
Niger Delta and massively develop the region.
“Yar’Adua also promised that the oil
producing communities would be given 10 per cent from the oil revenue for the
development of the area. We have not seen those things yet. Yes, few people
have been empowered but not the whole Niger Delta. Jonathan is not a Niger
Delta President but that of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
When he was contacted, the National
Coordinator of the Conference of Niger Delta Ethnic Nationalities (CENND),
Professor Kimse Okoko said “the President needs to work with the speed of
light to regain the confidence of the people from the region.”
The retired Professor of political
science from the University of Port Harcourt said it was sad that people who
worked hard to ensure that the President won the last election are now
abandoned to grumble in pains and agony.
“Mr. President must work extra hard
to regain the confidence of every Nigerian. He promised them so much during the
election. But up to this moment, there is nothing to indicate that the positive
change that we envisaged is coming to bear.
“He owes Nigerians that confidence,
that trust and above all, he must fulfill his pre-election promises to the
Nigerian people,” Okoko said.
On his part, High Chief Annabs
Sara-Igbe expressed displeasure over the President’s inability to use his
office to address the issue of gas flaring and the deplorable state of roads in
the Niger Delta region.
He argued that the dream of the
Niger Delta dies the moment Jonathan finishes his Presidency.
“We have not felt his impact yet.
Look at the deplorable state of the East/West road. There is no road to Bonny,
Kula and Brass. Meanwhile, these are communities where you extract so much oil
that feeds the nation.
“We are not really happy that up
till now we from the Niger Delta are yet to enjoy the benefits of having our
own son as the President of Nigeria. This is the only time we can use to wipe
away the tears of years of long suffering that we had gone through in this
country.”
Source: Daily Independent
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