In America, we say political news/ story that is not refuted within 24 hours becomes a fact. This is a response to the commentary on the web site of Sahara reporters by Dr. Aliyu Tilde. Once again, I want to state that I am not part of the Jonathan/Sambo political outfit. I am however a patriotic Niger delta woman and that is why I have chosen to respond to Dr. Tilde.
In America, we say political news/ story that is not refuted within 24 hours becomes a fact. This is a response to the commentary on the web site of Sahara reporters by Dr. Aliyu Tilde. Once again, I want to state that I am not part of the Jonathan/Sambo political outfit. I am however a patriotic Niger delta woman and that is why I have chosen to respond to Dr. Tilde.
You started well by the commentary on the menace of the Boko haram sect in the Northern part of Nigeria. However, your bias and resentment for Goodluck Jonathan over took your sense of fairness and you went off course. You raised some pertinent issues on the Boko Haram sect and the way their insurrection was brutally put down by the governors of Bauchi and Borno state. I wonder if you recall that was during the stewardship of our late President, Umaru Musa Yardua. It is however convenient to blame the man you love to hate Goodluck Jonathan.
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If you condemn the MEND boys as terrorists, I agree with you, but I wonder what name you have for all those Jihadists in the North, from Maitasine to Boko haram. Do you recall the massacre in Bulunkutu, Kano, and Maiduguri?
This was as far back as the time of President Shagari. Do you recall the murder of a fellow named Gideon Akaluka? He was decapitated by marauding Islamic sects, right inside a police station in Kano! Let me refresh your memory since you have chosen to ride the history train. Gideon Akaluka’s head was impaled on a stick by these Jihadists while they danced all over the old city of Kano. Can you please tell us if anyone was punished for this heinous crime? Besides, how about the massacre of Christians in Jos North Local government area this year? did you see pictures of children whose heads were scalped by marauding Jihadists? If you did not, I will take the pains to send some to you.
All men and women of good will with the interest of Nigeria at heart condemned in strong terms the Independence Day bombing of Abuja. I assure you there is no justified excuse for it. Our hope is that the perpetrators of this crime will be punished to the fullest extent of the law. We have no reason to excuse it away just as you are trying to do with the insurrection of Boko haram in the North.
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Now, let us talk about Good luck Jonathan. He supposedly breached the zoning formula of the PDP. Dr. Tilde, is the PDP synonymous with Nigeria? Must there be threats issued on the issue of zoning. Let me correct your summation on the hypothesis of Ambassador Campbell in relations to the 2011 elections. You are free to interpret it whichever way you like, but I do not recall the man said hell will let loose if the zoning formula of the PDP is not upheld. For the avoidance of doubt, what he said was that Nigeria is a nation with history of voting and political violence. A country with a dilemma of the North South Divide, a country with a deep mutual suspicion between Christians and Moslems. Of course he indicated that there might be civil disturbance in the country if elections are seen to be fraudulent. He did not for one minute say it will be as a result of the useless zoning arrangement in the PDP. Don’t you think the constitution of Nigeria is superior and supersedes anything any party may have internally? If you do, then forget zoning. The PDP may subscribe to it; the rest of Nigeria is not interested.
If there is a low scale guerilla warfare going on in the North, how does it come to a breach of contract by Jonathan as you opined. You see, we will no longer keep quiet for you guys. We will no longer subscribe to the epistle of the twice turned cheek of Jesus Christ. We will do an eye for an eye. It is better that way. We are sick of the condescension of the North. Your basic angst is the fact that some one is beating you at your own game. You cannot believe those whom you considered inferior to you suddenly found their voice and their bearing. The way you guys from the North are going about this Jonathan issue is pathetic at best. You have only succeeded in winning sympathy for him from people who would not have given the right time of day under normal circumstances.
“These forms of violence will continue as long as Nigerians leaders employ impunity to solve our problems....they think having the treasury within their reach and the security agents within their command give them the license to violate citizens’ rights and take political courses detrimental to the stability of the nation. They do not honour agreements except those which favour them…..” Haba Dr Tilde, I wonder if you have ever heard of the man in the mirror. You stand in the mirror; ask your people who ruled for 38 out of the 50 years of independence if they see the man in the mirror. The shoe fits on the other leg. You accuse Jonathan of high handedness? You have got to be kidding me. Right?
Now, let me remind you of those who deployed the might of the state to hound political opponents. Do you recall a gentleman named Shugaba who was deported to Chad? He was deported by the Shagari government. The instrument of state security was deployed to deport this man from Nigeria even while he was an elected member of the Borno state house of Assembly! The deal was to put him in political Siberia and move in for the kill in Borno state which then belonged to the GNPP politically. Do you know a fellow called Ibrahim Babangida? Will you take a risk and review his history of the misuse of state security? He executed Vatsa for spurious reasons. All the coups in Nigeria except the first coup were by military officers of Northern origin. They used State security to violate our rights and our constitution. Now, where were you when Yardua traveled severally and did not hand over as stipulated by the constitution? Were you in Nigeria when the man was smuggled back into Nigeria by his wife Turai and her gang of four? Even at that time, the might of state security was deployed when battalions of heavily armed men were drafted to the airport in Abuja, then vice president Jonathan was held incommunicado while they used the might of the state to block any one from seeing the pitiful state the man was in. How about the dictator Sanni Abacha? Do you recall who that fellow was? Do you recall his savagery of civil society groups in Nigeria?
Now, you talked about people abusing their access to the treasury. You could not have missed the point more. You have no moral grounds to stand on to infer Dr Good luck is abusing his access to the treasury. Have you bothered to ask IBB, Guasau, Atiku how they came about their stupendous wealth? I suppose you and I will agree on something. It is not legitimately earned money. If you think otherwise, will you want to refer to the indictment of Nuhu Ribadu while he was the chairman of EFCC on these men? How about all the billions of dollars traced to Sanni Abacha and his family. Dr Tilde it was as a result of unfettered access to the treasury. Unfortunately, you are not concerned that these people did nothing for your region; you are more concerned about keeping power in the North by all means. Ask Atiku why he departed abruptly from the USA. His co conspirator, former Congress man Jefferson is serving time in jail for an offense they both committed. The USA has not absolved Atiku of the crime
You want to know who paid for the outing of Jonathan in Abuja. I wish I have an answer for you. I do not know and will not pretend to know. What I am however interested in is who paid for the private jet of IBB. Who paid for his 50 bedroom house in Minna? Has Dr Bukola Saraki explained to us what happened to the money kept in trust by depositors in his family's bank? And has he paid back depositors whose savings disappeared in his bank?
Dr. Tilde, you should be more concerned about the terminal damage the so called leaders in the North have done to your region. It is not anyone’s fault. Your people had access to the treasury, they had the keys to the armory for 38 years, yet nothing beneficial came to your region. They did not add quality to your lives. That is what you should be concerned about. You ought to be concerned about the fact that the various pockets of violence and insurrection across the country, from Boko haram, to MEND, to the various kidnapping gangs in the South East and South South is a sign of social revolt against our internal colonizers and has nothing to do with zoning, or Jonathan. If when you find the mind of God, you may want to join the rest of us in calling for the convocation of the sovereign national conference in Nigeria. That way, you will no longer have to deal with the irritation of Goodluck Jonathan.
Thank you.
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