Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, one of the
biggest supporters and kinsman of President
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, has declared that
the president has lost the support of his
political base, the South-south and the
South-East owing to the failure of his
government to deliver on its promises.
Dokubo-Asari, at a press conference in Abuja
on Friday, said that it would be tough for
Jonathan to win the presidential election in
2015 if he decides to run based on the poor
showing of his administration.
He said that his decision to speak out was for
him and others who are ardent supporters of
Jonathan not to be blamed for his failure in
2015.
He said: “I want to start with an Ijaw
proverb, which says: the eyes watched its
seven children to death. Instead of advising
them, it was just looking at them until they
died, while the mouth talked its only child to
life and success.
“We have continued as Ijaw people and the
entire Niger Delta and South-South to
support the presidency of President
Goodluck Jonathan, but a time has come
when silence cannot be golden.
“We mainly speak out in issues that are very
critical to the survival of our people, the
survival of the people of the South-South and
the South-East, which happens to be the
political base of Goodluck Jonathan.
“Jonathan is surrounded by very greedy
people who are only in the Presidency to
enrich themselves at the expense of Goodluck
himself.
“This brings us to another Kalabari proverb,
which says: where there are elders, a goat
cannot be allowed to deliver tied to a stick.
“If we don’t talk and we continue to brush it
aside, tomorrow we will be blamed and
people will say: Mujahid Dokubo-Asari was
around when Goodlcuk Jonathan was
president and he didn’t talk.
“Them I will be an accomplice and accessory
after the fact….
“It is alarming because the South-South must
have its uninterrupted eight years tenure,
which is constitutional.
“But with how things are going under
Jonathan’s watch, we are afraid that we may
not be able to have our eight years tenure
because there will be no magic about it if it is
going to be one man one vote.”
Dokubo-Asari said he will continue to speak
out despite the fact that he had benefitted
from Jonathan, adding that one of those
causing trouble for the President remains the
Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Chief
Godsday Orubebe.
He said: “I have benefited immensely from
Goodluck Jonathan with my stake but benefit
alone is not enough to make me to keep quiet
when the period is very challenging for our
people.
“So, some of us are tempted to ask this
question: why are all these things
happening?
“Why has the President allow some ministers
like Godsday Orubebe to continue in
government?
“Everyday people die on the East-West Road.
“If Orubebe is incompetent as he has shown
himself to be, he should be removed.
“Nobody voted for Orubebe.
“And why is Orubebe so important to the
President that he can’t remove him even in
the face of his obvious incompetence and
several allegation to corruption?
“We feel very ashamed and embarrassed.
“Orubebe was one of us.
“He was attending meetings with us, sleeping
in the ground with us, entering night bus
with us and we nominated him to be
appointed a minister.
“We have gone to him and complained to him
that we don’t like they way things are going
in his ministry and told him that if the
President leaves in 2015 without the
completion of the East-West Road, we are
finished.
“And the man keeps telling us there is no
money.
“When IBB (former military President
Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida) was there,
there was money.
“When Abacha was there, there was money.
“When others were there, there was money.
“How come the money disappeared when
Jonathan got there?
“Jonathan and orubebe will account for the
death in the East-West Road.”
On the face-off between Jonathan and former
President Olusegun Obasanjo, Dokubo-Asari
said there was no need for it.
He said that no matter what Jonathan feels,
he still remains a beneficiary of Obasanjo’s
large heartedness.
He said: “First, there was no need for
Goodluck Jonathan to disagree with Olusegun
Obasanjo.
“I don’t like Obasanjo.
“I don’t like his face.
“I hate him.
“But he was instrumental in bringing
Goodluck Jonathan to power.
“And the greedy people around Jonathan
have not managed him enough to the extent
that the President and people around him
will allow Jonathan to disagree with
Obasanjo openly
“And if you check, all the people who
supported Goodluck Jonathan and fought to
bring him to power, have openly disagreed
with him.
“What was the cause of these disagreements?
“These are the questions we want to put to
the president.
“Some people say Obasanjo is manipulating
Goodluck Jonathan, that is why Jonathan is
disagreeing with him and we ask: what has
Goodluck Jonathan’s government achieved to
show that it is a departure from other
governments that have existed since 1956?
“For us, nothing has changed.
“It is still business as usual.
“So what are the advice that Obasanjo gave
to Jonathan that were so difficult for him to
fulfill, that made him decide to fall out with
Obasanjo?
“Obasanjo was instrumental and manipulated
the process that illegally removed Diepreye
Alamieyeseigha as governor of Bayelsa State
and installed Jonathan as governor, made
him vice president, fought for him to become
acting president and also fought for him to
become president of Nigeria.
“Apart from Obasanjo, there are so many
people who supported Goodluck Jonathan,
some have been pushed out by those who
were not there to give him any support, while
some others are trapped and they cannot
talk.
I have a feeling that Fulani man Buhari would
have done more for Niger-delta than
Jonathan has done so far Jonathan has done
nothing for Niger Delta actually. It is getting
more and more difficult to support him, the
second niger bridge is another issue.
No comments:
Post a Comment