President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday resuscitated
the controversy, which followed the fuel subsidy removal in January.
Jonathan alleged that the
Occupy Nigeria anti-fuel subsidy removal mass protest, organised by civil
society groups in Lagos in the wake of the removal of fuel subsidy in January,
was manipulated by an unnamed class of people.
He said the protest was not a
true reflection of the position of the masses but that of those who sponsored
them.
But civil rights groups and an
opposition party took a swipe at the President, saying he had alienated himself
from the people.
At the 52nd Independence anniversary
lecture on Tuesday, Jonathan also recanted his earlier position
describing himself as the most criticised president in the World.
He explained that
he had since discovered that his earlier position taken during the last general
conference of the Nigeria Bar Association was erroneous.
Earlier, Former President of Ghana,
Mr. John Kufour, delivered the lecture entitled ‘Nigeria: Security, Development
and National Transformation’.
Jonathan said the manner in which the
mass protest was conducted smacked of a sinister motive.
He noted that the best musicians and
comedians were hired to perform while participants were served with choice
foods and drinks was an indication that the whole event was stage-managed.
He said, “Look at the demonstrations
back home, look at the areas these demonstrations are coming from, you begin to
ask, are these the ordinary citizens that are demonstrating? Or are people
pushing them to demonstrate?
“Take the case of Lagos, Lagos is a
critical state in the nation’s economy, it controls about 53 per cent of the
economy and all tribes are there.
“The demonstration in Lagos, people
were given bottled water that people in my village don’t have access to. People
were given expensive food that the ordinary people in Lagos cannot eat. So even
going to eat free alone attracts people.
“They go and hire the best
musicians to come and play and the best comedian to come and entertain. Is that
demonstration? Are you telling me that that is a demonstration from ordinary
masses in Nigeria who want to communicate something to government?
“I believe that that protest
in Lagos was manipulated by a class in Lagos and was not from the ordinary
people.”
He took a swipe at the mass media
which he said have been criticising him even during his first six months in
office, saying such belong to the “political media.”
The President attributed most of the
criticisms targeted at him to the politics of 2015.
On his earlier claim that he was the
most criticised President in the world, Jonathan said, “I just returned from
Malawi where the President there was complaining that the media were being hard
on her, especially the social media and I told her not to bother herself.
“Recently, I was talking to the NBA
and I described myself as the most criticised President and when I left, one of
my aides said I am not the most criticised President.
“He downloaded some samples of people
from countries writing against their governments and Presidents and I said oh,
Nigeria is even better.”
Meanwhile, Kufour in his lecture,
identified imbalanced development as a major cause of insecurity in Nigeria.
“Naturally, imbalanced development
that involves horizontal inequalities is an important source of conflict and
that is costing Nigeria the opportunity to be the giant nation that it can and
should be,” he said.
The former President said only
a government that delivers on security and development could earn its continued
stay in office.
He said, “The challenge is to
accelerate the pace of development by using institutions of the federal
Constitution as a nursery ground for producing leaders who are national in
outlook and with a missionary zeal to transform this nation.
“This will help to mold the
contending ethnic and religious groups into harmony and help to remove the
perceived mutual distrust among them.”
Faulting the President, the Campaign
for Democracy, one of the organised of the January protest, said Jonathan’s
statement was provocative.
The CD president, Dr. Joe
Okei-Odumakin, said, “This is aprovocative statement. It is annonying,
insultive. It shows President does not give a damn. Today fuel sells for N150
per litre.”
Also, the Congress for Progressive
Change, said the President’s statement was not surprising.
The party’s National Publicity
Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said, “It is not surprising that this comment
was made by the President because this regime has alienated itself from the
Nigerian people.
Source: Punch
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