Goodluck decries turn of events in Nigeria

  1. Posted on Thursday 7 October 2010 - 15:20
    Samuel
    Image of Samuel
    Samuel Okocha, AfricaNews reporter in Lagos, Nigeria
    The Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan described as unfortunate the political dimension which the Abuja twin bomb blasts that claimed around 12 lives has assumed. His comments came as politicians from the northern part of the country called on him to resign following the incident that left scores injured.
    Goodluck Jonathan
    ''It is unfortunate that an unprecedented national tragedy of this nature has been politicised by people whose only interest is what they can get from the country and not what the country can get from them." President Goodluck Jonathan wrote on his facebook fan page.

    ''They specialize in playing one part of the country against the other and riding on sectional sentiments to promote their narrow ambitions. I believe that Nigerians have grown beyond this parochial mentality,'' the President who hails from Nigeria's Niger delta in the south added.

    The president said the groups of northern politicians who want him to resign are only interested in their selves because they are yet to address issues such as floods, cholera epidemic and lead poisoning that have left some hundreds of children dead in parts of Nigeria, mainly in the north.

    "This is irrefutable proof that their only focus is how to get power and not the wellbeing of the long suffering people of Nigeria whom I have sworn to Almighty God to protect,'' Jonathan wrote on his facebook fanpage.

    Background

    Ex-militant leader, Henry Okah had claimed an associate of the President phone him to tell MEND to retract statements claiming responsibility for the independency day blasts so that the north would be blamed for the incident. After the story on Aljazeera network, some northern politicians called on the Nigerian president to resign.

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