Archive for the ‘Progressives’ Category

Jonathan must visit Yobe over pupils killing -APC

The All Progressives Congress has restated its call on President Goodluck Jonathan to take time off his electioneering campaign to visit Yobe State to commiserate with the bereaved families of the innocent schoolchildren, who were brutally murdered by terrorists in February.

It said far from being a mere formality, such a visit would provide great succour to the families of the victims, reassure them and other residents of the state that their government had not abandoned them to their fate, and also serve as a morale booster for the gallant troops, who are battling the terrorists, against all odds.

APC said, There is no other democracy in the world in which that number of schoolchildren will be killed and the head of government will carry on with business as usual. Since the killings, President Jonathan has made a national broadcast in which he mentioned the killings only as a footnote, instead of making it the central point of the broadcast.

Since the killings, the President has presided over a wasteful national celebration, in which the drums were rolled out to mark the countrys centenary even as devastated families were still mourning and those injured were reeling from their pains.

Since the killings, President Jonathan has been gallivanting across the country, surreptitiously kick-starting his electioneering campaign for 2015 under the guise of receiving some inconsequential political jobbers now wearing the tag of defectors. This junketing has taken the President everywhere, including Sokoto, Minna, Ilorin and Onitsha. But he has pointedly avoided Yobe. To put it mildly, the father of the nation has been practically dancing on the graves of those innocent souls. This is not the stuff of leadership and the President must make amends by visiting Yobe today.

The party said Jonathan should take a cue from what obtainedin other lands, especially in the US after which Nigeria has modelled its democracy.

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Jonathan must visit Yobe over pupils killing -APC

APC says Jonathan is toying with Ndigbo

The opposition All Progressives Congress on Sunday accused President Goodluck Jonathan of toying with issues and projects that concerned the Igbo people of the South-East.

The APC allegation came ahead of the inauguration of the second Niger Bridge on Monday (today).

The party spoke through its spokesperson in the South-East zone, Mr. Osita Okechukwu.

Okechukwu said that whereas the APC was in favour of the immediate construction of the second Niger Bridge, the party frowned that the project was not being directly funded by the Federal Government.

The party recalled that the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe, penultimate week at his palace, challenged the President for reneging on his promise during the 2011 presidential campaign to inaugurate the second Niger Bridge.

The APC statement read, We are at a loss why President Jonathan, three years down the line, after making the promise to complete the construction of the much-treasured second Niger Bridge, never deemed it fit to include it in any of his national budgets.

Accordingly, it is our candid view that the debt tilts more in favour of President Jonathans political campaign slush fund; because if the second Niger Bridge has found its way into any of President Jonathans national budget, Nigeria could have saved over N70bn through competitive bidding.

For is it not a paradox that Lagos State government awarded 1.3km Epe-Lekki bridge of similar status to Julius Berger Plc and completed it at N29bn, while the same company without competitive bid got 1.8km second Niger Bridge at N117bn, a whopping difference of N88bn?

APC South-East, regrettably, observes a trend where Ndigbo has become a toy to play with on President Jonathans hand. As he seems to have forgotten too early in the day that Ndigbo sacrificed our turn to be president of Nigeria in the nearest future on his altar, hence unwittingly created unsavoury relationship between Ndigbo and their contemporaries in the Nigerian political landscape.

The party noted that the President had inaugurated with fanfare a non-operational Onitsha seaport, where no vessel had landed up to date.

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APC says Jonathan is toying with Ndigbo