Jonathan To Buhari: “I’ll Not Stop Corruption By Putting People In Trailer And Take Them To Kirikiri”

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines Thursday, January 8th, 2015

President Goodluck Jonathan flags off his presidential campaign in Lagos on Thursday, blasting his opponent, General Muhammed Buhari as being too old to govern the country and also lack respect for the rule of law.

President Goodluck Jonathan and his Vice Arc. Namadi Sambo at the Flag off at the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos on Thursday January 7, 2015

Addressing thousands of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, supporters at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos, Nigeria, Jonathan described Buhari as a half dead man, saying “let those who are half dead bury their dead.”

Apart from engaging in serious campaign of calumny against his opponent, Jonathan used the campaign to defend himself without clear-cut policy on how he would take the nation to the next level.

He told the large audience that Buhari’s aim was to take them backward and that he is the only one who could take Nigeria to the desired destination, asking his audience: “do you want to go backward?” The crowd chorused, “No.”

“They say they will fight insecurity and that our armed forces are weak. When he was head of government, did he buy any equipment for the armed forces? No country can equip her armed forces at once, it is gradual,” he said.

Jonathan refused to agree that he is not fighting corruption, saying that he has in deed stepped up campaign against corruption, adding that just yesterday, he addressed the anti-corruption agencies and that more people have been arrested for corruption.

“To fight corruption, you must establish institutions. If they have succeeded in the fight against corruption, we will not be having corruption today. We are reducing corruption,” he said.

According to Jonathan, the opposition party had been saying that his administration is a weak one, saying that he had ensured that the rule of law was entrenched in the nation, saying that “any country in the world that does not obey the rule of law is a jungle country.”

The president said Buhari does not have any plan for the nation and for the youths, saying that during the former head of state’s tenure, he was busy building prisons while he had built universities across the country.

Jonathan said in Buhari’s campaign in Port Harcourt, he said he was going to arrest those corrupt and throw them at Kirikiri Prison, saying that corruption could not be stopped by jailing people.

“I will not stop corruption by putting people in trailer and taking them to Kirikiri Prison to jail them,” saying he would not spend time fighting enemies.

Jonathan also reacted to the endorsement of Buhari’s candidature by the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), saying that their leader, Charles Okah is being jailed in South Africa for attempting to kill him.

He said intelligent report revealed that Okah was trying to assassinate him, which resulted in the Independent Day bombing when the nation was marking her 50th anniversary.

According to him, Okah was sponsored by some people to kill him, saying that with MEND’s endorsement, it showed the opposition party had nothing to offer the nation by aligning with a killer like Okah.