The opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) has commended President Goodluck Jonathan over his recent visit to Maiduguri, calling for him to make many of such visits to other affected parts of the North East.
The party speaking via a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed and dated Friday, January 16, 2015, the APC urged President Jonathan to follow up his visit to Maiduguri with trips to Potiskum, Buni Yadi and Chibok, three towns worst hit by terror attacks.
Mohammed stressed that such visits were imperative in order to prove that the Maiduguri visit was not politically motivated considering the fact that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential campaign would begin its Northern tour soon, with a stop at Maiduguri on Wednesday, January 21, 2015.
The statement read: ‘’We have always said the President and the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces should never be afraid to visit anywhere in the country. We have always said the President should not just be the Commander-in-Chief but also the Consoler-in-Chief. We are glad that the President has finally agreed with us.
‘’But it is necessary to remind the President that he must not play politics with human lives, and that he must stop putting Jonathan first, Jonathan second and Jonathan third, at the expense of the nation
‘’It is instructive that a few hours after President Jonathan visited Maiduguri, the global news channel CNN aired an interview with some Nigerian soldiers who complained of very low morale among the rank and file, lack of fighting equipment and very poor welfare. Another blamed the terrible situation being faced by the troops on massive corruption.
‘’This does no credit to an Administration that has allocated billions of naira to the defence and security sector, billions that apparently did not percolate to those at the front line of the battle. It calls to question the usage to which the government has put the huge funds allocated to the sector, including the 1-billion-dollar loan that was recently approved by the National Assembly,’’ the statement continued.
