The All Progressives Congress (APC) has spoken against rumoured plans of the Federal Government to remove Governor of Borno State, Kassim Shettima in favour of a military administrator, in order to rev up the onslaught against adherents of the Boko Haram Islamist sect.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has spoken against rumoured plans of the Federal Government to remove Governor of Borno State, Kassim Shettima in favour of a military administrator, in order to rev up the onslaught against adherents of the Boko Haram Islamist sect.
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Hundreds have been killed this year in renewed siege by the fundamentalists on innocent civilians, an ambush on Igze community in Gwoza Local Government Area of the state on two Saturdays alone accounting for more than 100 of those deaths.
And responding in a statement on Monday, APC argued that if there was ever anyone to blame for the killings, it is President Goodluck Jonathan, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
“The Presidency should realise that there is always a limit to impunity; and that if indeed anyone should be removed over the protracted insurgency in the state and the entire North-east, it is President Goodluck Jonathan”, Interim National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed wrote in a statement released in Ibadan.
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“What is happening in the North-east in general and Borno State in particular is failure of leadership at the highest level of government, especially because the imposition of a state of emergency in the three worst-hit states has given the President emergency powers to deal with the protracted crisis.
“As President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Jonathan is in full control of all the instruments of coercion available to the country, which he can and has been deploying at will. If, therefore, some seemingly implacable dead-enders have continued to kill, maim and destroy in any part of the country, no one but the President should be held liable. Everyone knows a governor does not deploy troops”.
APC observed that the raison d’etre of any government is the protection of lives and property; and should a government fail in that key responsibility, it can no longer justify its reason for existence.
It lumped Shettima and the people of Borno together as victims of Boko Haram’s senseless war, saying that what they deserve is succour and support for everyone, rather than further victimisation by a Federal Government that seems to have run out of ideas on how to subdue the sect.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati had denied newspaper reports of Shettima’s impending removal as senseless and preposterous, as the country's constitution does not make any provision for military rule in a civilian regime.
“It is preposterous; it does not make any sense. This is one of the states where government had declared a state of emergency twice, and in the two occasions, it did not remove the governors of the affected states”, Abati had said on Sunday.
“Nowhere does the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria recommend military rule over civilian rule in a democratic setting like Nigeria. And this is a government that has consistently placed emphasis on strict adherence to the rule of law.
But APC would have none of it, arguing that previous denials by the Presidency on similar matters have been followed by the execution of exactly the worst fears of the people.
“No one should lend any credence to the denial of the Presidency on the evil plot to remove Gov. Shettima, because this Presidency’s words have never been worth the paper on which they are written”, Mohammed continued.
“Several times in the past, this Presidency has issued a straight-faced denial only to go ahead and do exactly what it said it won’t. Against such blatant lack of credibility and integrity, we do not believe the presidency’s denial”.
APC also claimed that that the Presidency may be using the state of emergency in the North-east to fight its own political battle and get rid of those it perceives as a stumbling block to its interest in 2015.
It argued that were that not the case, the Presidency will not be flying a satanic kite of planning to remove the governor when it is clear that this governor has done everything humanly possible to support the Federal Government and the brave men and women fighting the sect, in addition to providing succour to the good people of Borno who have been terribly traumatised by the activities of the misguided terrorists.
“The state of emergency has run its initial course and has even been renewed, yet the insurgency continues. That means the Federal Government must think out of the box to evolve new strategies to tackle the insurgency.
“One of such is to heighten intelligence gathering that will make it possible for our security forces to pre-empt attacks. Another is to win the hearts and minds of the local population, so they can do more to help fish out the insurgents.
“We are sad to note, however, that the Federal Government seems to have its own agenda, which may include allowing the insurgency to fester so that elections will not be able to hold in the area in 2015. If anyone thinks this is outlandish, such a person under-estimates the desperation of this Presidency going into the 2015 elections”.
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