There are indications that President Goodluck Jonathan will embark on a comprehensive overhaul of the staff of the Presidency any moment soon.Presidency sources revealed to National Mirror that the changes, which would touch all departments, including security, personal staff of the President and other bureaucracies in the face-off in the insinuations that opposition elements have penetrated the seat of power, restore sanity and bring the place under the full control of the President Jonathan.
The exercise is particularly targeted at ridding the Presidency of the “enemies within.”
It was further gathered that part of the reasons for the planned sweeping changes was in response to some of the concerns raised in the letter to President Jonathan.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had alluded to a cabal from a particular section of the country that had literarily held Jonathan hostage and monopolised the decision and policy-making processes of the administration to the exclusion of other people.
Part of the planned changes is intended to broaden the administrative machinery of the Presidency with a view to making it more inclusive and representative.
It was gathered that the President had for sometime been worried over the frequent leakages of what was supposed to be confidential information within the Presidency, a situation that suggested that, “there are enemies within.”
“It is all so difficult right now to know who and who are working for the President.
“The way and manner information gets out of the place is too frightening and gives cause for great concern.
“It is as if people there are working for all sorts of interests. The way things are presently, it is difficult to trust anybody and if things continue this way unchecked, soon there will be an implosion,” the source, a senior official, said last night.
This allegation corroborates the reported fears expressed in November last year by one of the cabinet ministers who revealed how he had to personally submit a very important memo to the President for fear that if he followed the due process or official channels, the memo would have ended up in the public domain even before it got to the President.
The security leaks at the Presidency for which the proposed changes are targeted at, according to the source; result from the infiltration of the seat of government by agents of the opposition political parties who are determined to frustrate the administration of President Jonathan.
The source also alluded to the allegation that the President’s tribesmen have literarily taken Jonathan hostage as, “there is hardly any major policy decision or up-scale political appointment that the President makes that he does not consult with or is not determined by his tribesmen.”
According to the source, “It is these people that ensure that most major appointments are filled by people from the southsouth region of the country, their arguments being that ‘this is our President and our turn to redress the past injustices to our people.’”
Meanwhile, President Jonathan yesterday declared that his government would not allow any individual or groups like the Boko Haram fundamentalists to hold the country to ransom.
According to him, the government is committed to liberating the country from the hands of any evil person in order to leave behind a country that posterity would be proud of.
Jonathan, who spoke in Abuja at the Church of Christ In Nations, COCIN, where he observed the first Sunday service for the year, noted that Boko Haram was temporary and would go away, stressing that just as some countries were able to overcome security challenges, Nigeria would also overcome its own security challenge.
“A number of countries are facing similar challenges and some have been able to overcome it and surely we will overcome Boko Haram.
“Life in the North must change; development must go to all parts of this country. Nobody or group can hold this country to ransom. We will collectively liberate this country from the hands of any evil person, so that we can leave behind a Nigeria that our children and grandchildren will be proud of”, Jonathan said.
The President, who said he was not going to make any speech for fear of being misquoted, noted that the rising political tension in the country ahead of the 2015 election was something that should be expected in a democracy.
“I’m not going to read a speech because I avoid making speeches this time around so that I will not be misinterpreted.
“The political environment is always noisy all over the world. There is nowhere you won’t hear so much noise,” he said.
He noted that the United States of America with many years of democratic experience also had its own noisy political tension.
“Even the United States of America, not long ago the country was almost shut down. For so many months, people were worried that the country that has practiced democracy for so many years could get to that situation. But that is politics for you,” he added.
The President assured that his administration would work hard to ensure rapid development in the country to enhance the standard of living of Nigerians
“Let me reassure you that we will continue to work harder to improve the quality of lives of Nigerians, anything you start, there is always a time.
“If you want to build a single storey building, it must take you some time to build. We are building one small mini private banquet for the President in the State House, with a great company like Julius Berger, what we thought will take six months is getting two years,” Jonathan said.
Delivering pastoral greetings to the congregation, the new President of COCIN, Dr. Dachollom Datiri, said the church has suffered from Boko Haram attacks in its branches located in the North East of the country.
He however noted that Jonathan had been able to record significant achievement though the national transformation agenda.
Specifically, Datiri commended the declaration of State of Emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states to check the activities of the Boko Haram sect.
“Your transformation agenda is loveable and commendable. You are always in church and God will never forget you. When a leader puts the things of God first, all other things shall be added unto him,” Datiri said.
He prayed for the success of the administration and the progress and development of the nation.
Source: National Mirror
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