APC lambasts Jonathan for directing #BringBackOurGirls protesters to Boko Haram

The party says President Jonathan’s demand that protesters direct their grievances to Boko Haram gives no hope to Nigerians. The All Progressives Congress, APC, has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of abandoning its responsibility to protect Nigerians, over the president’s remarks Thursday that #BringBackOurGirls campaigners direct their protests at Boko Haram. In a speech read on his behalf by the minister of state for Abuja, Olajumoke Akinjide, President Jonathan said he was a wrong audience for protesters demanding the release of more than 250 abducted schoolgirls. The girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram in Chibok, Borno State on April 14. The president’s speech was delivered as protesters attempted to march on the presidential palace, Aso Rock. In a statement Sunday, the APC said it is now logical to conclude that there is absolutely no hope for Nigeria and her citizens under Mr. Jonathan’s government. “A government that is unwilling to take any responsibility for anything, and one that is unwilling to recognize that its raison d’etre is to ensure the welfare and security of its citizens has simply abdicated its responsibility, and should not be counted upon to do all that is necessary to rescue the over 200 girls who were abducted under its watch,” the statement by the party’s spokesperson, Lai Mohammed, said. The APC said Boko Haram militants, who have inflicted much pain on the nation, would not have succeeded as much as they have if the government had believed that it had any responsibility to protect the citizens, and not engage in blame game. “If the Jonathan-led government is right, then anytime a country suffers from deadly flooding, for example, the people should rather blame the sea or the sea goddess instead of looking up to their government for succour. If the Jonathan- led government is right, then the US, Britain France, China as well as the UN, which have all been asking the government to do more to secure the homeland, are wrong and do not understand the concept of governance. Certainly, there is a problem somewhere,” the party said. The party claimed the government may be planning to silence all its critics, and vowed that it will not be “blackmailed” into abdicating its own responsibility to check the government. “A government that is quick to accuse others of failing to sympathize with the victims of the insurgency that it had allowed to fester has no qualms campaigning aggressively for a second term of office for a president who has made a failure of his first term,” the party said.