Don’t ignore OBJ allegations, APC, Northern group warn Jonathan

The All Progressives Congress and the Coalition of Northern Politicians, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen on Thursday, cautioned the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration against treating issues raised by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo in his open letter, with levity.
In separate reactions to the letter, the APC said it agreed with Obasanjo’s call on  Jonathan, not to allow personal and partisan considerations blot out his responsibility as the father of the nation and put in jeopardy his constitutional role of ensuring the country’s unity.
The position of the APC was contained in a statement by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
In reference to happenings in Rivers State, the party said it had resolved not to sit by and allow anyone make the nation a laughing stock in the comity of nations.
The statement read in part: “We are aware of the letter to President Jonathan by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, virtually accusing the President of destroying the same nation he was elected to preside over and uplift.
“We hope he will not allow Obasanjo’s prognosis about him to come true so soon by backing any move that can plunge Nigeria into chaos.
“This is because we in the APC have resolved never to sit by and allow anyone, no matter how highly placed, to engage in actions that will make our country a laughing stock and a pariah in the comity of nations.”
The APC said there would be no peace anywhere in the country if the Federal Government supports the perpetration of impunity in Rivers State.
This, it said, was not a threat, “but the sure consequences of any acts of impunity.”
Speaking in a similar vein, the Convener, of the Coalition of Northern Politicians, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, said Obasanjo;s letter raised a number of serious issues which could not be ignored.
He said the claim that the Presidency was planning to set up “a killer squad” was particularly worrisome considering the nation’s sad history of unresolved assassinations.
Mohammed said, “This, to me, is very, very serious, and given the way the government has been behaving from the time Jonathan came to power in an acting capacity, the way and manner he, INEC and others were complicit in rigging the election, I, as a Nigerian, has to be worried.
“It is a known fact that a new think-tank has been created and is being massively funded. Nigerians ought to be worried; we had random extra-judicial killings, which became the norm of the government of the day.
“As I can recall, most of the people killed have been unaccounted for. Most of the people, who were alleged to have done it or were accessories, have been freed.”