Friday 7 February 2014

Jonathan can’t win against Boko Haram - Fani-Kayode


former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, on Thursday said the President was too weak to win the war against the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram. “As long as Jonathan is in power, Boko Haram will be there because he is not man enough to tackle the problem. Until a president who is man enough is in charge, Boko Haram problem will continue to be there,” Fani-Kayode said in Osogbo, capital of Osun State.

He briefed the media in Osogbo on his way to Ile-Ife to participate in the ongoing registration of the All Progressives Congress. The former minister, who said he did not support dialogue with Boko Haram members, said Jonathan was a very weak President who could not take decisive decisions to crush the insurgents.



He said the invasion of Odi village in Bayelsa State by the military during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo led to the reduction of attacks against the military by 90 per cent.

Fani-Kayode was a minister in the Obasanjo administration.

He said except the government mustered the courage to wage a purposeful war against the insurgents, they would continue to perpetrate violence.

He, however, blamed his former boss, Obasanjo, for what he described as Jonathan’s bad leadership.

“Chief Obasanjo is my leader whom I have a lot of respect for and I will continue to respect him but the truth is that he caused the problem we have today. “The joy of it is that the same Obasanjo who anointed an incompetent leader for Nigeria is now cleaning up the mess.

“The country has five presidents and they are, First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan; Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Allison Madueke; Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah; Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala; and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. They are powerful in that order and Jonathan dares not seek to be number four or three.

“These five presidents control the nation, but the most powerful of them all is Mrs. Jonathan. She is so powerful that no one can control her and whatever she says is final.”

He berated the President for awarding the contract of securing the nation’s pipelines to an ex-Niger Delta militant, Government Ekpemupolo, a.k.a Tompolo.

He said the country continued to lose 50 per cent of its oil products to thieves despite the huge fund being paid to the ex-militant.

Meanwhile, Jonathan has appealed to foreign envoys serving in Nigeria to help his administration to correct the misconceptions about the country abroad.

He said the envoys must do their best to always convey the positive realities of the country to the rest of the world.

A statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, quoted the President as making the appeal while receiving the outgoing Italian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Roberto Colamine, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The President said that by concentrating on positive realities of the country, the envoys would help immensely in “correcting current misconceptions and adverse misrepresentations of Nigeria in the international community.”

Specifically, he asked Colamine to use the knowledge he acquired during his service in Nigeria to portray the country positively when he gets back to Italy.

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