APC NEC Raises Alarm Over Jonathan’s Plot To Declare Total State Of Emergency In Adamawa, Borno, Yobe

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines Tuesday, March 18th, 2014

Ayo Balogun, Lagos

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the All Progressive Congress (APC) rose up from an emergency meeting on Tuesday raising alarm over plot by President Jonathan to declare a total state of emergency in Adamawa, Bornu and Yobe States, being controlled by APC leadership.

APC Interim National Chairman, Bisi Akande

At the emergency meeting were the party’s Interim National leadership led by Chief Bisi Akande, Governors Rochas Okorocha of Imo State; Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State; Dr. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State. National leaders of the party were also present in the person of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, General Mohammed Buhari, Senator Alli Modu Sheriif, Chief Ogbonnoya Onu, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Chief Olusegun Osoba, Senator Saraki, Senator Goje and other members of National Interim Executive of the party.

A communiqué issued at the end of the meeting said “it has come to our notice that, in pursuant of the Presidency’s stance to label anyone who offers it any advice on how to curtail the terrorists attack and boost the morale of our gallant troops, the imposition of a total state of emergency is being considered for Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, which is a smokescreen to remove the democratically-elected Governors of these APC states.

“We condemn this move unequivocally and urge the President to jettison the idea, if indeed it is being remotely contemplated, because it will not advance the cause of peace in the affected states.”

The NEC said against the background of the daily orgy of killings, “we are compelled to say that the Jonathan Administration has lost total control of events in the country, with the result that Nigerians are now being left to their own devices. It is clear that the situation in our country today, whether it is in the area of security, job creation, fight against corruption or even growing of the economy, is far beyond the capacity of those at the helm.”

Expressing sympathy for Nigerians who lost their lives during the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) test, the APC NEC said the needless deaths of our youth, which resulted from a combination of exploitation, corruption, greed and incompetence of the relevant authorities, represented a needless violation of their right to life and dignity.

It said out of sheer greed, N1,000 each was collected from the over 770,000 unemployed applicants shortlisted, saying that the Jonathan-led PDP government therefore fleeced unemployed youth and their parents of N770 million using a consultant as conduit, knowing full well that the available vacancies of about 4,500 had already been filled through the back door by over 3,000 candidates of PDP Apparatchik and government officials.

“The pervasive corruption and incompetence that have become the hallmarks of the Jonathan Administration paved the way for this unprecedented greed in which hapless job seekers were extorted by the same government that has failed to provide jobs for them. Yet, this government has no social security or any form of safety net for the vulnerable army of the unemployed. It should be made clear that this government encourages and baby sits corruption stealing not only from the Pension fund of Nigerian citizens, but also from the unemployed and from our collective patrimony, the NNPC.

“That is why we are calling for a criminal investigation to unravel the circumstances that led to the deaths of those innocent Nigerians, to find out who authorized the fleecing of job seekers by a government agency, what happened to the money realized from the heist and why the relevant officials did not ensure a better arrangement that could have saved precious lives.

“The job stampede deaths constitute the latest in a series of events that have turned Nigeria into a massive killing field in recent times. The orgy of killings in the past few weeks have left hundreds dead and many more maimed in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Kaduna, Katsina and Plateau, just to mention a few. Never in the peace time history of our dear country has there been such a high number of needless deaths,” it stated.

APC NEC disclosed that the party would be holding its Ward Congress on 5th of April, Local Government Congress on the 12th of April. State Congress on the 23rd of April and National Convention on the 24th of May.