The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described as cowardly and incomprehensible Thursday’s repeated bombing at Nyanya in Abuja, saying nothing in the world can justify the mindless, senseless and barbaric killing of innocent people by a group of demented people masquerading as ideologues.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party also said the fact that the dead-enders can bomb the same area twice in as many weeks has given a fillip to the widening call on President Goodluck Jonathan to provide much-needed leadership instead of shifting blames.
”That almost the same spot can be bombed twice in close proximity is the height of devilish audacity by those who perpetrated the evil act. But it is also a poke in the eye for the authorities, considering the closeness of the scene to the seat of power.
”If these insurgents are gaining in strength and audacity, it is because President Jonathan has allowed them through failure of leadership. If these insurgents are back in Abuja after almost three years of their last attack in the city, it is because they have seen a soft target in a President who has failed to lead,” it said.
The APC said the time has come for the President and Commander-in-Chief to earn his epaulet by providing purposeful leadership at such a critical juncture in the history of the nation, rather than quietly egging on those who stupidly believe these insurgents are being sponsored by the opposition and some other ill-defined people to discredit the government.
”It has been argued in certain quarters that the resurgent attacks and the shameless abduction of the over 200 school girls are aimed at discrediting the Jonathan Administration, especially ahead of this week’s World Economic Forum on Africa. What these evil theorists have forgotten, conveniently, is that the activities of the insurgents tar every Nigerian, whether in the ruling or opposition party, with same brush and that no Nigerian, ultimately, benefits from these barbarous insurgency.
”Therefore, Mr. President, rise above the fray and seize this moment in history to assert your leadership and stop whinging about this insurgency. The buck stops on your desk, so stop pushing it to other people. If indeed you believe in the lies being peddled by your genuflecting and capricious party officials that the opposition is behind these attacks, what prevents you from ordering the arrest and prosecution of these sponsors if you have concrete evidence of their involvement?
”In any case, how did these tales-by-the-moonlight sponsorship allegations prevent your government from frontally tackling this all-consuming insurgency? Does the head of a household refuse to put off a fire set on his roof because some arsonists are behind it? Mr. President, this is your battle to win or lose, and you are the one history will judge over the outcome, not those self-serving members of your party,” the APC said.
Meanwhile, the party says the government has made a laughing stock of itself by setting up a fact-finding committee on the missing girls some clear 17 days after the girls were abducted.
”That this government waited for all of over two weeks after the girls went missing before deciding to set up this committee has shown why it has not made much progress in tackling this insurgency. This action is akin to shutting the pen after the chicken has bolted.
”Why did it take this long for the President to act on an issue that has attracted the attention and concern of the global community? What ‘fact’ can any committee find now that the girls are reported to have been ‘married’ by their abductors and taken to several locations? Should we be engaging in fact-finding now or be pursuing the abductors of the girls? Is this not another instance of the governance-by-committees that this President has engaged in, to no positive outcome? What kind of father is that who will wait for 17 days after his daughter has gone missing before seeking information on how it happened?” it queried.
The APC called on President Jonathan to shake off his lethargy and head to Chibok immediately to provide support and succour to the families of the girls, and then declare a nationwide emergency until the girls are safely reunited with their families.