Senate President Bukola Saraki said yesterday that
former President Goodluck Jonathan was not prepared for leadership.
He, however, described him as a man who never wanted
to unnecessarily cling on to power.
Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima lampooned the
ex-President for his inaction when the Chibok schoolgirls were abducted.
He said the former President almost removed him from
office as a result of the girls’ abduction but for the intervention of a former
Attorney-General of the Federation Mohammed Bello (SAN) and a former Minister
of Special Duties Tanimu Turaki.
They spoke in Abuja at the public presentation of
the book: “On a Platter of Gold: How Jonathan won and lost Nigeria,” written by
a former Minister of Sports, Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi.
The book reviews the Jonathan administration from
February 9, 2010 to May 29, 2015.
Saraki said: “I like to share one or two things that
will probably summarise the former President Jonathan. I remember when I was
then senator and I came across this issue of fuel subsidy and the way the
country was losing close to about N1.3 trillion.
“In the history of this country, I don’t think of
any singular kind of level of corruption as huge as that. I had a motion
already, I wanted to present on the floor of the Senate. I felt as a member of
the ruling party at that time, it was only proper I discussed it with the
President (first) maybe some action can be taken so that I could step down the
motion. I booked an appointment to see Mr. President, I went with my paper, I
started with the background of how people brought in petroleum products. I said
Mr. President, in the past, people used to get award letters from NNPC to bring
in PMS, DPK, and make 10, 20 per cent profit.
“I said sir, they’ve taken it to another level. Now,
they get an order to bring in products they don’t want to make 10 or 20 per
cent any more. They will get an offer to bring in a cargo of 20,000 litres,
they will bring in 5,000 litres to be stamped for 20,000 litres and
instead of making 10 per cent, they make ten times the amount. I was
telling the President thinking the President would get very agitated. But
Jonathan said: ‘Senator Saraki, you know this oil business is very oily.’
“I was stunned and taken aback but in a way, that
was Jonathan in a way; that was who he is. And if you look at the second
encounter … I felt that I didn’t want Jonathan to hear it as news, I booked an
appointment to go and see him – I didn’t know what I was thinking that day. I
went to the Villa. He said ‘come in, come in, how can I help you?’ I looked at
the President of a third world country and said Mr. President I came to tell
you that I am going to be contesting for your seat. Jonathan looked at me and
said ‘oh, okay, good luck, good luck.’
“If it were any other person, maybe I would
not have left the Villa but that again sums up Goodluck Jonathan. I think it
is Nigerians that produce the kind of leaders we get. No matter what you
say about him, I don’t think he was someone who was desperate for power. He was
not someone that was prepared for leadership. Yes by misfortune or fortune, I
keep on saying, we all know the right things but we don’t do it. We find
ourselves sometimes blaming individuals and blaming others than ourselves.”
Some of those at the launch were Governor Abdulfatah
Ahmed(Kwara); a former Speaker of the House of Representatives Ghali
Na’aba; a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Alfa Belgore; National
Chairman of APC Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; Minister of Mines and Steel
Development Dr. Kayode Fayemi; Minister of Communication Mr. Adebayo
Shittu; ex-Governor Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo; Executive Secretary of NEITI
Mr. Waziri Adio; ex-Minister of FCT Dr. Aliyu Modibbo; Speaker of the Kwara
State House of Assembly Ali Ahmed; members of the APC National Working
Committee and a former National Chairman of PDP Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje.
Shettima described Dr. Jonathan as a clueless leader
and unsophisticated country person.
He also reiterated that Jonathan doubted the
abduction of over 200 Chibok girls and was nonchalant.
He said Jonathan surrounded himself with an
assorted crop of religious bigots and tribal kings unlike ex-President Olusegun
Obasanjo who believes in the Nigerian project.
Notwithstanding, he said Jonathan should be
commended for conceding defeat and saving the nation from the precipice.
He, however, said Nigeria needs good governance and
not restructuring.
“It goes without saying that the stewardship of Dr.
Jonathan was such a turbulent period in our national life and will continue to
shape for good or for bad, the fortunes of our country.
“The lesson for us, therefore, as a political class
is that we must at all time, place the national interest above all other
considerations and must assiduously work to build a national consensus. Not
everyone will agree with the recollections of the events of that very interesting
period of our national life or the manner of presentation.
“I hope that this book will inspire others to give
their own account, history and perspectives as well as opinion of this and
other period of our unfolding political history. The fortune of this country is
our hands.”
Shettima, who was the chairman of the launch,
regaled a stunned audience with how Jonathan mismanaged the abduction of Chibok
girls by Boko Haram.
Instead of acting, Jonathan ordered that the
Principal of the Government Secondary School, Chibok should be locked up by the
then Inspector-General of Police Mr. Mohammed Yusuf.
He added: “Sadly, Borno was the epicentre of the
whole crisis that engulfed the Jonathan administration.
“I wasn’t invited to Abuja until nearly three
weeks later and even when I was invited, I was happy that at last, I was
getting the attention of my leader. I was asked to come to Abuja with the
Commissioner of Police, the DPO in Chibok, the Commissioner of Education,
the military commander in Chibok and the Director of SSS in Borno.
“We were all ushered in to the Villa and sadly when
the President came in, he was still in the world of make-believe. He started
threatening the principal that he should tell him where the girls were. He was
shouting, ‘Principal, you must tell me where those girls are, Commissioner of
Police, you must know where the girls are’.
“He immediately ordered the arrest of the Principal,
the DPO, the Commissioner of Police and the Director of SSS, that they must
produce the girls. In this very unfortunate saga, Mohammed Dikko Abubakar, the
Inspector-General of Police, arrested them, took them to the police
headquarters and told them he cannot hold onto them because he was a man of
conscience. He let them go on self-recognition.
“I was quite taken aback because I thought the
solution was going to be found to a very grave national challenge. Instead, the
President was still of the mindset that those girls were not abducted.”
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