ALL Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of instigating constitutional, religious and ethnic crises in a manner never witnessed since the nation’s independence.
Odigie-Oyegun, who spoke when he received a group of Ijaw youths under the auspices of Izon-Ibe Global Policy Network (IGPN) at the party’s national secretariat, said the Jonathan administration’s attitude was threatening the country’s corporate existence.
He lamented that because of the president’s ambition, the country had been divided in a way never experienced before.
The party’s national chairman said: “What is most worrisome is that we not only think that there has been no phenomenon development, but for some funny reasons, the whole country is being plunged into unnecessary crisis, constitutional and otherwise, which is in very real terms threatening the nation’s existence.
“In all the history of this country, even before the civil war, the people of the Southsouth have been noted as those who kept the country going through thick and thin and through the period of the civil war.
“Today, as we seat, we are not sure what will happen tomorrow. We are not sure whether the election of March 28 will hold; the country is divided so seriously in a way it has never been – along religious and ethnic lines, along the poor and rich, corruption, insecurity; all to the extreme. So, when I come across young people like you, who are professionals, I am always very impressed because the future belongs to people like you. With people like you, there is definitely hope for the Nigerian nation.”
Expressing happiness about the decision of the youth to associate with the APC, Odigie-Oyegun said: “It is not easy to find particularly young men of Ijaw extraction ready to stick out their neck and say their own brother has failed them, their own son has failed them and that what is important is who is best placed to address the challenges and the ills of our nation.
“Even outside Ijaw areas, the South generally, there are very few people who have that courage. We all seems to be trapped in the old antiquated mentality that once somebody is from us, whether he is right or wrong does not matter.
“I am glad that with people like you, we have proven that we are getting out of that mentality of my brother is right or wrong. I must say that the President is someone who has been blessed by God in every way possible.
“He became deputy governor riding on the goodwill of the governor; he became governor because your principal fell out with the federal system and so, they set him up and properly dealt with him.
“You were asked to become vice president. You pleaded to be allowed to remain in your state to continue to be governor, but you were dragged screaming to become vice president.
“Again, nature took its course. God called your principal home and without lifting a finger, the whole of Nigeria rose up in your defence and you became President and you served the almost two years that was left. On your own, and with the whole country routing for you, you became President.
“A man in the position will look up in the sky and say God, use me. Whatever you want to use me for, I am ready and available. At the end of the term he is serving now, he would have served six solid years as the No. 1 citizen of this nation.
“Anybody in that position would knee down and say God, you have been kind to me and would want to write his name boldly in the annals of history, such that people will look back generations from now and be proud.
“Those of us from the Southsouth will also be proud that when our brother was there, when our son was there, this name recorded phenomenal growth and we in the Southsouth will say, but for him.
“We would not have known what a railway station is or what a train looks like; but for him. We would not have known what a true expressway is. But for him, we would not have known what it is to have electricity round the clock. But for him, we would not have had the industries that are now taking care of our children as they come out of schools.
“For a man, who is so blessed, he would like to leave his name in the annals of history having been there for six years; two years short of the normal eight years, which is two terms of a normal president. So, it is a matter of concern.
“I am also from the Southsouth, the Niger Delta, even though peripheral. But you are proper Ijaw from the various states of the Niger Delta. I particularly commend your courage for looking at these last six years and conclude that we can do better. Whether he is our son or not, we must have the courage to say no, ‘you have not done well; somebody else can do it better’.
“So, I want to say that we appreciate the courage of what you have done; we appreciate the spirit of what you have done and to say to you that it is stuffs like you that nations are made of, that nations are built on, and that you should continue the good work that you have started and I want to assure you that at the proper time, you will be appreciated and acknowledged.”
The group’s spokesman, Ayubalayefa Dennis, said its members have mobilised over five million youths from the Niger Delta region to carry on the gospel of change and ensure that General Muhammadu Buhari is voted into office.
He lamented that the amnesty programme put in place for youths of the Niger Delta was badly managed by President Jonathan, alleging that he had politicised the programme.
