One of the biggest supporters and kinsman of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, has declared that the president has lost the support of his political base, the South-south and the
South-East owing to the failure of his government to deliver on its promises.
Dokubo-Asari, at a press conference
in Abuja on Friday, said that it would be tough for Jonathan to win the
presidential election in 2015 if he decides to run based on the poor showing of
his administration.
He said that his decision to speak
out was for him and others who are ardent supporters of Jonathan not to be
blamed for his failure in 2015.
He said: “I want to start with an
Ijaw proverb, which says: the eyes watched its seven children to death. Instead
of advising them, it was just looking at them until they died, while the mouth
talked its only child to life and success.
“We have continued as Ijaw people
and the entire Niger Delta and South-South to support the presidency of
President Goodluck Jonathan, but a time has come when silence cannot be golden.
“We mainly speak out in issues that
are very critical to the survival of our people, the survival of the people of
the South-South and the South-East, which happens to be the political base of
Goodluck Jonathan.
“Jonathan is surrounded by very
greedy people who are only in the Presidency to enrich themselves at the
expense of Goodluck himself.
“This brings us to another Kalabari
proverb, which says: where there are elders, a goat cannot be allowed to deliver
tied to a stick.
“If we don’t talk and we continue to
brush it aside, tomorrow we will be blamed and people will say: Mujahid
Dokubo-Asari was around when Goodlcuk Jonathan was president and he didn’t
talk.
“Then I will be an accomplice and
accessory after the fact….
“It is alarming because the
South-South must have its uninterrupted eight years tenure, which is
constitutional.
“But with how things are going under
Jonathan’s watch, we are afraid that we may not be able to have our eight years
tenure because there will be no magic about it if it is going to be one man one
vote.”
Dokubo-Asari said he will continue
to speak out despite the fact that he had benefitted from Jonathan, adding that
one of those causing trouble for the President remains the Minister of Niger
Delta Affairs, Chief Godsday Orubebe.
He said: “I have benefited immensely
from Goodluck Jonathan with my stake but benefit alone is not enough to make me
to keep quiet when the period is very challenging for our people.
“So, some of us are tempted to ask
this question: why are all these things happening?
“Why has the President allowed some
ministers like Godsday Orubebe to continue in government?
“Everyday people die on the
East-West Road.
“If Orubebe is incompetent as he has
shown himself to be, he should be removed.
“Nobody voted for Orubebe.
“And why is Orubebe so important to
the President that he can’t remove him even in the face of his obvious
incompetence and several allegations of corruption?
“We feel very ashamed and
embarrassed.
“Orubebe was one of us.
“He was attending meetings with us,
sleeping on the ground with us, entering night bus with us and we nominated him
to be appointed a minister.
“We have gone to him and complained
to him that we don’t like the way things are going in his ministry and told him
that if the President leaves in 2015 without the completion of the East-West
Road, we are finished.
“And the man keeps telling us there
is no money.
“When IBB (former military President
Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida) was there, there was money.
“When Abacha was there, there was
money.
“When others were there, there was
money.
“How come the money disappeared when
Jonathan got there?
“Jonathan and orubebe will account
for the death in the East-West Road.”
On the face-off between Jonathan and
former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Dokubo-Asari said there was no need for it.
He said that no matter what Jonathan
feels, he still remains a beneficiary of Obasanjo’s large heartedness.
He said: “First, there was no need
for Goodluck Jonathan to disagree with Olusegun Obasanjo.
“I don’t like Obasanjo.
“I don’t like his face.
“I hate him.
“But he was instrumental in bringing
Goodluck Jonathan to power.
“And the greedy people around
Jonathan have not managed him enough to the extent that the President and
people around him will allow Jonathan to disagree with Obasanjo openly
“And if you check, all the people
who supported Goodluck Jonathan and fought to bring him to power, have openly
disagreed with him.
“What was the cause of these
disagreements?
“These are the questions we want to
put to the president.
“Some people say Obasanjo is
manipulating Goodluck Jonathan, that is why Jonathan is disagreeing with him
and we ask: what has Goodluck Jonathan’s government achieved to show that it is
a departure from other governments that have existed since 1956?
“For us, nothing has changed.
“It is still business as usual.
“So what are the advice that
Obasanjo gave to Jonathan that were so difficult for him to fulfill, that made
him decide to fall out with Obasanjo?
“Obasanjo was instrumental and
manipulated the process that illegally removed Diepreye Alamieyeseigha as
governor of Bayelsa State and installed Jonathan as governor, made him vice
president, fought for him to become acting president and also fought for him to
become president of Nigeria.
“Apart from Obasanjo, there are so
many people who supported Goodluck Jonathan, some have been pushed out by those
who were not there to give him any support, while some others are trapped and
they cannot talk.
I have a feeling that Fulani man
Buhari would have done more for Niger-delta than Jonathan has done so far
Jonathan has done nothing for Niger Delta actually. It is getting more and more
difficult to support him, the second niger bridge is another issue. Even his
allies are denouncing him. What a shame!
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