President Goodluck Jonathan has admitted that he reaped considerable benefits from the active role he played in last year’s breakup of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).
Jonathan made the revelation on Monday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja during a solidarity visit from stakeholders of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from the north–central geographical zone, led by former National Chairman of the party, Senator Ahmadu Ali.
He applauded the efforts of the zone in saving the Presidency from embarrassment that would have been caused by the Governor Rotimi Amaechi-led NGF when the forum “became a monster”.
“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”, Jonathan said.
“ [With] the way some of the governors talked and behaved ― if 50 per cent of the governors behaved that way ― we would have vacated this place and allowed others to manage it for us, but [the north-central zone] were able to help stabilise the whole country”.
Ahead of the 2015 general elections, he urged members of the zone to promptly reveal their challenges so that PDP can continue maintaining its stranglehold on the region.
On security, the president assured the visitors that he was working closely with National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki to totally eradicate insecurity from every corner in the nation.
“We are coming up with different architecture that will deal with this insurgency”, Jonathan said. “As we progress, we will begin to bring the situation under control”.
Responding on the security challenges in the zone, Governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam stated that the group that have been attacking villagers in his state are not the normal Nigerian herdsmen, but nomads from other regions seeking to worsen the nation’s security problems.
“I have interacted with a lot Fulani friends and they have told me that those people are not the Fulanis that are indigenous to Nigeria”, Suswam said.
“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, from Benue and the Fulani communities, to fight these people who are creating these problems. This clearly shows that these are people who are foreign even to the Fulanis that we know”.
Suswam suggested that the insurgents may be camouflaging as herdsmen to infiltrate the region.
“Mr. President, what we have witnessed lately are attacks from well-trained people who are trained to kill and destroy; and the manner of destruction is so massive and is unimaginable”, he said.
“The North Central is very worried; the states mostly affected are Plateau, Nasarawa and Benue”.
Referring to the magnitude of the destruction caused by the herdsmen over the years, Suswam expressed surprise that no one has ever been arrested. He urged the Federal Government to make bigger commitments towards apprehending the perpetrators.
He also pressed for heavy sanctions to be placed on anyone caught in the action, as a warning example for others.
“Mr. President, you must insist that your security must arrest these people”, he said.
“If you see the level of destruction and the fact that no person has been arrested, it becomes worrisome, Mr. President, how do these people get their arms, because they are carrying very sophisticated weapons?
“But a situation where we have some evil men deliberately conniving with some forces that we believe are subterranean to destroy this country and the good achievements that you have put in place should be something that should worry all of us”.
He thus urged the governors of the zone to intensify efforts in addressing these very important security problems.
