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The party’s National Vice-Chairman in the North-east, Babachir David Lawal, who made the assertion in an interview with journalists in Abuja, also said the people of Adamawa State are angry over the wrongful removal of former Governor Murtala Nyako and will definitely restore APC to power in the state after the by- election.
He said the reason Nyako was impeached was because he hads been able to imbibe the culture of APC where there is no looting and no sharing of the commonwealth.
“Another thing is that Nyako was a very amiable person. The people are so angry at the way he was humiliated out of office. It is just that we are a peaceful people and we are under state of occupation by the military. So, our people were denied the opportunity to protest. Come this election, it is payback time for the PDP.
“Nyako was impeached without being given an opportunity to defend himself. They have removed him and that is the truth. In another three months, we will recover our mandate,” he said.
While lamenting the precarious state of affairs in the zone, Lawal accused the PDP of being the biggest beneficiary of Boko Haram and the destabilisation of the North-east which has now destroyed the economy of the entire North.
According to Lawal, who is formerly a chieftain of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), insurgency is not just about Boko Haram killing people, it is a scourge that affects everything, with people in the rural communities being worst hit.
He said with due respect to Jonathan, Boko Haram did not start during his time.
“That is the truth. Boko Haram started manifesting its evil inclination during late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s government and that was a PDP government. Senator Ali Modu Sherif was the governor then. During Olusegun Obasanjo, it was there. It became full blown during Yar-Adua-Jonathan period.”
Still speaking on the origin of Boko Haram, the politician said although the genesis of the sect transcended the Jonathan’s administration, “it was indeed created, nurtured and and matured under the previous PDP government.”
“They are the major beneficiary. Boko Haram was sponsored to initially get sympathy for President Jonathan. Now, it has backfired. Let me tell you the truth. I do not see how anybody from the North-East today can vote for the PDP.
“They created it in order to decimate the voters’ population on the North-east. They know that the region is 100 percent APC. They are doing it so massively. Today, Boko Haram will kill 300 and the next day, the military will kill 50. Nobody goes to the farm now because of fear of being kidnapped. The people are so angry that the federal government has been unable to do anything.
“The combined forces of army and Boko Haram are decimating voting population in the region. They have occupied the land so that the people will not be able to vote. We have reasons to believe that the biggest beneficiary of Boko Haram and the destabilisation of the North-east is the PDP.
“Let me tell you this. I am a Christian and pastor. In 2012, the campaign was that we should vote for Jonathan because he is a Christian. In the churches, nobody wanted to hear anything about a Muslim president. They did not vote for Buhari. They voted for Jonathan who is a Christian.
“I am a Christian and let me tell you this. My church service starts by 9 am and it is just 20 minutes drive from my house. Now, it takes me at least one hour because of road blocks. My children and wife have to step down for soldiers to search their bags whether they have guns or not. And this was the same Christian we voted for.
“He has made church services impossible for us. He has made economic survival impossible. As a person, we have not seen jobs created for more than two years. We are aware that he has destroyed the economy of the North. I do not know about the South, but in the North, we are so impoverished. If Jonathan returns in 2015, every northerner will have to be crawling to survive, “ he said.
Source: Thisday
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