Abati to Lai: Your Statement on Jonathan is “Rude And Silly”

By Akeem Oyetunji          President Goodluck Jonathan is aware and conscious of his primary duty of securing lives and property of all Nigerians and as such, will never abdicate his responsibility, the Presidency said Sunday night.

Presidential Media Adviser, Dr. Reuben Abati, gave the assurance while reacting to a statement issued by the APC’s Interim National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, accusing the President of abdicating his responsibility regarding the abduction of Chibok girls.

“Lai Mohammed is not in the position to talk about competence. There is nothing in his record that grants him the authority or audacity to talk responsibly about competence.

“For him to be openly accusing the President of incompetence or corruption without any evidence to back it up is to say the least, rude and silly,” Abati said.

He also accused the APC of dishonesty and playing politics with the Boko Haram insurgency, querying “What country does the APC belongs to? What country is the APC seeking to preside over?
Abati noted that contrary to what the opposition party pretends to stand for, it hosted a political rally after the Jos bomb blasts when the whole nation was mourning.

The Media Adviser also clarified the statement made by the FCT Minister of State, Olajumoke Akinjide, on behalf of President Jonathan at the #BringBackOurGirls rally last Thursday in Abuja, saying the message simply called for a united effort against the insurgents.
Abati states, “To start with, when the bombing in Nyanya occurred, followed by the abduction of the girls at Chibok, the President called a special National Security Council meeting which was attended by representatives of the APC.
“At that meeting, the governor that spoke on behalf of the APC, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State made it clear that he was coming from a meeting of the party and that they resolved at the meeting that this is an issue that is above partisanship.
“He said they resolved that the issue of terrorism requires a bipartisan approach and that everyone involved must rise above partisanship, irrespective of political ideology, political affiliation, religion or ethnicity.
“But since that meeting, we have not seen any evidence either from the party or the leaders of the party that the APC meant what its members at that security meeting said.
“It is very clear that the APC is being dishonest. Its intention is to play politics with insurgency and terrorism. I think the question needs to be pointedly asked: What country does the APC belongs to? What country is the APC seeking to preside over?
“As it appears, the APC seems blinded by its own narrow ambition and that is why in recent times, you can find some persons purportedly speaking for the APC making completely illogical and unreasonable statements.
“If you look at the statement by Lai Mohammed, he is accusing the government of abdicating its responsibilities. President Jonathan has never at any time abdicated responsibilities.
“He has consistently made it clear that the safety of every Nigerian is important to him, that the security of lives and property is central to all the goals and objectives of this administration.
“He has made it clear that he as President acknowledges the fact that the primary duty of government is to secure the lives and property of all Nigerians and all persons who live within the geographical domain.
“In his statement to the BringBackOurGirls campaigners in Abuja, he said that they should be united against terrorism and Boko Haram. That was his message. He was not abdicating responsibility.
“He was not saying they should not talk about government responsibility and talk only about Boko Haram. The President was calling for unity. He was calling for a proper focusing and targeting of the meaning of protest in this context.
“He was saying in the speech delivered by Jumoke Akinjide that it is our country that is under siege. We are faced with a group of internal and external enemies who go under the names of insurgents and terrorists to attempt to compromise the integrity of Nigeria.
“All of us must come together and fight this common enemy. The message was one of unity against terrorism, Boko Haram.
“I don’t think that that was too complicated for people who are aspiring to take over power to understand. And that is why I think that at the heart of this statement by Lai Mohammed is a complete lack of understanding and pure lack of intelligence.”
“”The third matter that needs to be dealt with is that if you look at that statement, you will see that it is as if Lai Mohammed is under pressure because of campaign because he kept mentioning campaigns.
“To the best of our knowledge, INEC has not yet blown the whistle for campaigns. So why is Lai Mohammed and his APC so bothered about campaigns.
“In any case, the PDP has not been doing any campaigns. What the PDP has been organising are unity rallies. And if he was referring to the election in Ekiti, it is a matter of public record that the PDP cancelled its planned rally for his governorship candidate in Ekiti but it was APC that is trying to be holier than thou that went ahead and organised a big rally on a day after the explosion in Jos,” he said.
“Finally, Lai Mohammed in that statement kept talking about competence. What does he know about competence? What does he know about running anything?
“People who have never run poultry are grandstanding about running a country”.