President Goodluck Jonathan said yesterday that if not for governors of the North Central region, he would been sent packing from Aso Villa by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) under the leadership of Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi,.
The president, who made this comment when a delegation of stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of the North Central region, led by Senate President David Mark, paid him a solidarity visit at the presidential villa, Abuja, said the governors’ forum turned itself into a monster.
This is coming just as Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswam, has reiterated that those who have been attacking villagers in Benue State in recent weeks are not Fulani herdsmen but insurgents parading as cattle herders.
Noting that he almost vacated his seat for governors at Aso Rock, Jonathan said, “We thank you for this solidarity visit and for giving us a Senate President that has been able to stabilise the NASS. The governors from the zone who have been stabilising the country because the way some of the governors talk and behave, if 50 percent of the governors behave that way, probably, we would have vacated this place and allow others to come and manage it for us. But they have been able to help to stabilise the whole country.
“When the governors’ forum became a monster and we had a lot of challenges, it was the North Central that came on board to stabilise the governors’ forum. So, the zone has been able to produce very great leaders, not just leaders but they are patriotic leaders. So, we will continue to work with this zone; we will continue to encourage you. As we approach elections next year, let us know the problems on time. We will work with you to ensure PDP continues to maintain the zone.”
On the issue of attacks on farmers by insurgent posing as herdsmen, the president assured the delegation that security personnel were moving in to help the police.
“But we are working very hard with the NSA office to make sure that the security challenges that we have across the country are contained – whether in Borno State or the kidnapping in Edo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Abia and so on. We are coming up with different architecture that will deal with this insurgency. As we progress, we will begin to bring the situation under control”, he said.
The president, however, expressed reservation at the request by the delegation for the rehabilitation of roads in the North Central region, saying his hands were tied because of budgetary constraints.
He said, “The issue of reimbursement about roads is off because of budgetary constraints and the challenges we have now. We have not been putting enough money, if at all we are putting. A number of states have intervened on federal government infrastructure, especially roads. We said the payment should be properly done. So, if you leave, your successor will still spend the money on behalf of the Benue people”.
On the issue of oil and gas, Jonathan said, “In all the inland sedimentary areas, the River Basin and so on, we believe that even if we don’t have crude oil per se, we believe that we have reasonable gas reserve in this area. Now, gas is becoming the hydrocarbon of choice because of the total combustion and for use in power plants. Because if we have gas in this area, we don’t need to pipe gas from the Niger Delta to power the power plants located in the west and north central.
Earlier, Benue Governor, Gabriel Suswam told the president that the security situation in his states and some other states in the North Central became worse because of insurgents parading themselves as Fulani herdsmen.
The governor who said he had interacted with a lot Fulani friends who informed him that the people attacking the farmers were not the Fulanis that are indigenous to Nigeria.
“Last night, the president general of Miyetti Allah spent the night with me in Benue State. He told me there was a need for us to form a joint force, that is, the Benue and the Fulani communities, to fight these people who are creating these problems which clearly shows that these are people who are foreign even to the Fulanis that we know.
“We believe that it is not just the Fulani herdsmen that are doing what they are doing in the zone, but some insurgents who are camouflaging as Fulani men; because the Fulani men that we all know and we have lived with them, some of them are part and parcel of the north central, we know that they carry sticks and at times, few of them carry dane guns to catch bush meat for Tiv people.
“But Mr President, what we have witnessed lately are well trained people who are trained to kill and destroy and the manner of destruction is so massive and is unimaginable.”
He expressed worry that not even one of the attackers had been apprehended and queried how they got their arms.
Source: Leadership
