We in the north will take over from Jonathan – Farouk Aliyu

By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North
The face-off between the North and Niger Delta campaigners for Jonathan’s re_election in 2015, deepened yesterday with a former member of the House of Representatives, Farouk Adamu Aliyu, boasting that the north would remove the President through their enormous voting strength and not through the barrels of the gun.

There has been a wide gulf between ex-militants and northern groups over the re_election of President Jonathan in 2015 although he has not yet declared interest in the said election, claiming to be engrossed in the development of the country for now.

While the former fighters have threatened to make the country ungovernable if Jonathan is not returned in 2015, the north has stated that they will not support him for jettisoning the zoning arrangement, which would have retained power in the region after he might have served out the remaining term of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.

Addressing a news conference in Abuja, Aliyu, a former minority leader in the House of Representatives, expressed regret that Jonathan had allowed his kinsmen to insult and intimidate the rest of Nigerians because of his re_election bid.

Describing himself as one of those who fought for Jonathan’s Presidency with the Save Nigeria Group, the Jigawa State politician wondered where the likes Asari Dokubo and his cohorts were when opposition mounted against the President’s inauguration as acting president.

In the conference text entitled, “Ungrateful President and his people”, Aliyu chronicled the different selfish actions and utterances by Jonathan since taking over the mantle of Nigeria’s leadership to show that he was more interested in the welfare of the Ijaw than other Nigerians.

Angered by the actions of the President, the northern politician pointed out that unlike in 2011 when the people of the area rejected their own and voted massively for Jonathan, they would reject him at the poll in 2015 to teach him a lesson that a Nigerian leader should not be sectional or tribalistic in the administration of the nation.

“We in the north will take over from Jonathan through the ballot box and not through the barrels of the gun as some elements threatened recently. By the grace of God, we shall take over from him,” Aliyu boasted.

“We call on President Jonathan to dissociate himself from those who are beating the drums of war and to call them to order so as not to truncate the democratic governance in Nigeria, which all Nigerians fought for.

“We know that it is only the President of a country that can boast that nobody can arrest him and nothing happens. But now, some people are threatening the law enforcement agencies and the National Assembly to dare arrest them and see what they will do without the President saying anything.

“As at today, we are all Nigerians and the President has the responsibility to treat us as Nigerians. But we are worried that he has kept mute over those planning genocide, hatred and destruction of lives and property because of their selfish interest.

Reminded that Chief Edwin Clark had corrected the impression created by Dokubo’s statement that there would be war if Jonathan loses in 2015, Aliyu flayed up, describing the Ijaw leader as one of the problems of Nigeria.

According to him, Clark has not done as much as he has been doing to bring about peace and unity in Nigeria.

Turning to the threat by militants that they would stop their oil resources from flowing to all parts of Nigeria in the event that Jonathan loses out in 2015, Aliyu stated that the oil resources of Nigeria belonged to all Nigerians and not an exclusive preserve of the Jiaw or any ethnic group.

He said, “We in the north believe that the oil in Bayelsa or Delta belong to us in Jigawa or any other state in the north. We shall therefore do anything humanly possible to defend that our oil in Bayelsa or anywhere else in this country.

“As long as we remain as Nigerians, we shall stake claim to the oil resources just as other Nigerians are benefitting from the mineral resources found in Jigawa or Sokoto State.