President Goodluck Jonathan has chided Governors of North Eastern states for shifting the blame of Boko Haram to the Federal Government saying that it was shameful of them having spent more than six years in office, in some cases, to not be able to provide basic amenities and infrastructure for the people they govern.
The President spoke at the North East zonal rally of the Peoples Democratic Party in Bauchi yesterday.
He said, “It is shameful for a governor who has stayed in power in his state for up to six years or more to come to me and talk about bad leadership when you have youth in your state, more than half of whom have not attended primary school and you are doing nothing about it.
“State Governors should be ashamed when our children do not go to primary and secondary schools and they decide to carry arms.
“We had insecurity challenges in Bayelsa when I was deputy governor and later governor and we handled them. It is not the duty of the Federal Government to send children to Primary and Secondary schools but it is the constitutional right of the Federal Government to make sure children attend tertiary institutions which we have done.
“How can you allow hungry youths to just go out and start killing people? Bayelsa was the first state in Nigeria that witnessed commercial kidnapping and we tackled it.”
The President described the insurgency as a sad development and said the Federal Government would do its best to tackle it.
“It is very sad what is happening in the Northeast but as a government we are working very hard to ensure that peace is brought back to the Northeast and the region’s glory will surely be restored. These challenges are only temporary.
“Boko Haram in the North East, kidnapping in the South South or armed robbery in the South East, we must bring them to a reasonable control.”
Also speaking at the rally, National Chairman of the PDP, Adamu Muazu said the PDP would not tolerate godfatherism in the party any more, he advised aspiring candidates to seek the support of the people at the grassroots.
He said: “Only the God of Adam and Eve that can give you power. All our people who want to seek political officers should go back to their villages and ask the people for their mandate because the simple definition of Democracy means Power to the People by the People and for the People. So you don’t need a God father to win election in PDP today.”