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War drums in N’ Delta
over Jonathan
By Daniel Alabrah (Lagos) & Lucky Nwankwere (Abuja)
Sunday, November 29, 2009
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Photo:
Sun News Publishing |
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Furious reactions have trailed the reported pressure on the Vice
President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, to sign an undated resignation
letter in the event of President Umaru Yar’Adua’s inability
to continue in office as a result of his health condition.
Jonathan is reportedly under intense from some hawks in the Presidency
said to have the backing of some key Northern politicians.
The plot was said to have been hatched to forestall a situation
where the Presidency would return to the South just two years after
another Southerner, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, left the office.
The Presidency has, however, described the alleged plot reported
in a national newspaper yesterday as not only false, but also meant
to cause panic and tension in the country.
Sunday Sun learnt yesterday that already tension is mounting in
the Niger Delta, where Jonathan hails from, with the Ijaw nation
warning that they would not “take lightly” any threat
or pressure on Jonathan.
Coordinator of the Ijaw Monitoring Group (IMG), Comrade Joseph Evah,
who spoke to Sunday Sun yesterday evening on the telephone, said
the Ijaw nation is on the alert over the alleged plot.
Said Evah: “We (Ijaw nation) will not take lightly any threat
to undermine Jonathan or his office. We have heard of the plot and
we are watching the situation.
“We are particularly worried that the President’s aide
presented the 2010 budget to the National Assembly while the Vice
President is said to be in charge. We believe that is part of the
plot and the Niger Delta is alert. There is a clique working against
the Vice President and let us see how those plotting such evil will
undermine the Constitution.
“We are not saying that Jonathan should take over, after all
the President is not dead. Indeed, we are praying for Yar’Adua
and the Ijaw nation and the whole of Niger Delta people do not wish
him dead.
“But we are disturbed that this is happening again now that
the President is ill. The other time the President traveled to Saudi
Arabia for medical treatment, a group, Northern Liberation Front,
vowed to resist any move for Jonathan to assume the presidency.
It even threatened to give him the (MKO) Abiola treatment.
“Also, a PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) chieftain from the
North, Godwin Daboh, had said the North would not accept Jonathan
if anything happened to Yar’Adua. What did the SSS (State
Security Service) do when these national security threats were issued?
We believe they are agents of a clique trying to foment trouble
in Nigeria, and this time around we will not take it lightly.
“Those around Jonathan, I mean his advisers and aides, must
realize that he is not representing his family. He represents a
region just like the President is representing the North. So his
office is important to the Niger Delta and we will do everything
to protect it otherwise our children in generations to come would
ask us what we did when a Niger Deltan for the first time in the
history of Nigeria occupied that office.”
Another group, United Niger Delta Energy Development Security Strategy
(UNDEDSS), equally warned that the Niger Delta might secede over
the plot against Jonathan.
UNDEDSS’ Secretary General, Mr Tony Uranta, in a terse statement
issued yesterday via SMS, called on Nigerians to remain law abiding
but warned against any action that would undermine the 1999 Constitution.
The statement read: “UNDEDSS is calling all Nigerians to remain
law abiding as citizens under the 1999 Constitution. Should any
section of the nation decide to overthrow due process, every other
section should immediately withdraw from the nationhood space. God
is just and rights must never be trifle with.”
The Presidency has however moved to douse the tension, saying there
is no truth whatsoever in the report that Jonathan is under pressure
to resign following the hospitalization of President Yar’Adua
for acute pericarditis.
The Presidency described the report as not only false in its entirety,
but also sheer mischief designed to create unnecessary panic and
tension in the country.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and
Communications, Mr Ima Niboro, said in a statement made available
to State House correspondents in Abuja yesterday that it was an
insult to the sensibilities of Nigerians, including the Vice President
for anyone to come up with such a suggestion.
“The newspaper failed to state clearly who or what body was
bringing this pressure to bear, but went ahead to insult the sensibilities
of Nigerians, including the vice president himself by suggesting
that Dr Jonathan is to be made to sign an undated letter of resignation...
“which can become binding in the event that the president
is unable to continue in office””, he further stated.
The vice president’s aide urged the public to discountenance
the story, which, according to him, “dwells entirely in the
imagination of its authors, their sponsors and co-travellers”
and continue to support the Yar’Adua administration in its
effort to reposition the country.
Niboro’s statement reads: “We have read with considerable
dismay the story of The Punch published today, November 28, and
wish to point out straightaway that it is false in its entirety,
and designed to create unnecessary panic and tension in the country.
This story, we must add, is sheer mischief, and dwells entirely
in the imagination of its authors, their sponsors and co-travellers.
“For the benefit of those who did not read (the story), the
newspaper in its lead story claimed that as a fallout of President
Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s slight indisposition, which by
the way has been blown out of all proportions in the media, Vice
President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is under pressure to resign.
“The newspaper failed to state clearly who or what body was
bringing this pressure to bear, but went ahead to insult the sensibilities
of Nigerians, including the vice president himself, by suggesting
that Dr Jonathan is to be made to sign an undated letter of resignation...
“which can become binding in the event that the president
is unable to continue in office.”
“…We urge all well-meaning Nigerians to continue to
give support to the President Yar’Adua administration. As
the vice president noted yesterday, and was widely reported in the
media, the president is okay, and there is no cause for alarm.”
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