Jonathan’s visit to Chibok is symptomatic - APC

Lai Mohammed

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described President Goodluck Jonathan’s aborted trip to Chibok as symptomatic of his administration’s policy somersault in the fight against the terror group Boko Haram.

Interim National Publicity Secretary of the party, Lai Mohammed, said in a statement that Jonathan’s action did not come as a surprise to close watchers of his administration.
The party said the administration has since bungled the fight against the sect and exhibited cluelessness in handling the abduction of the over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok.
“As usual, a trip - belated as it were - that could have gone a long way in redeeming the battered global image of the Jonathan administration

in the handling of the abduction issue has turned out to be another albatross for the president. Again, a president who is demonstrably averse to success has snatched defeat just when he was on the cusp of victory.
“With his utterances and actions or inaction, President Jonathan has deepened the pains of the parents and guardians of the girls, and indeed that of the whole nation, when he should have been the consoler-in-chief at such a difficult time for a nation he leads,’’ it said.
The party said the government was complicating the matter by lying to Nigerians with the aborted visit, adding that President Jonathan never planned to visit Chibok in the first instance.
It also said the president made his aides to look clean when he told the international media that he did not go to Chibok because the girls are not being held there and because the trip will not lead to their release.
“This statement shows that President Jonathan does not understand the demands of his office, and that in good/bad times, he is to be seen and heard as the lead celebrant/lead consoler for his compatriots. His statement is the most pedestrian justification of a presidential faux pas ever.
“A president and commander-in-chief who is afraid to visit any part of his country has betrayed the very people who voted him into office. In the case of Chibok, he has shown that the residents of the town should not expect to be seen as compatriots by their own president, hence they are on their own.
“This definitely explains why, increasingly, Nigerians are resorting to self help, why ordinary citizens are taking up cudgels, machetes and dane guns to battle Boko Haram. It is nothing but the clearest indication of state failure and presidential ineffectiveness,’’ the party said.