Buckle up or quit, CAN charges President, NATIONAL MIRROR


Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to buckle up if he is desirous of averting danger in the New Year, else he should quit.

Chairman of the South- East chapter of CAN and the Anglican Bishop of Enugu, Rt. Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Chukwuma gave Jonathan the charge yesterday in a New Year message.

Chukwuma said the President has to demonstrate stronger political will in tackling the myriad challenges facing his administration, especially the alleged cases of corruption in the polity, unemployment and epileptic power supply.

The cleric stated if Jonathan fails to leave up to the billing, he should prepare to exit the presidency in 2015.

Bishop Chukwuma also predicted doom for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, noting that except the likes of Chief Tony Anenih and Alhaji Bamanga Tukur retired from active politics, the party would face greater calamity in 2014.

He expressed dismay that the duo of Anenih and Tukur as well as other elders above 75 years had refused to heed his advice to quit active politics, noting that the present crisis facing the party would be child’s play to what would happen to the party in the coming year.

“If those elders I warned before to retire don’t retire, then the party will be in trouble in 2014. At 80, Anenih should retire; Bamangar Tukur should retire.

These people should now serve as elders and advisers; if they do that, then PDP will get its dignity back but while you still have these analogue leaders and elders in the party and the polity, forget about PDP in 2015,” he said.

He urged President Jonathan to be focused in the New Year to avoid attracting the wrath of the greater percentage of Nigerians, noting that since the buck stops at his table, all blame of every failing in his government would be completely laid at his doorstep.

Chukwuma said: “The letter between Obasanjo and Jonathan is a boomerang of Obasanjo’s selfish act in enthroning a president of his choice for Nigeria.

There are many better leaders out there than Jonathan who would have been elected but Obasanjo selfishly, because of the people he think he could control, maneuvered Jonathan into leadership by first putting sick Yar’Adua. Because, he couldn’t control him anymore, he started writing letters.

“That is why Jonathan must be focused in 2014 in order to prove himself for 2015.

Failure to do that and he gets distracted and doesn’t prove himself, and Nigeria continues with the way it is today with corruption, no light, poverty, unemployment, I beg him, he should just step aside, let us seek for a better leader in 2015.

He has tried in the last six years, and rather than the thing getting him into trouble, and cause him more tension, I think Nigeria is greater than everybody, all of them should give way and give room for new spirit to rule Nigeria from 2015,” he said.

While urging politicians to eschew violence and bitterness as the nation prepares for a major election in order not to mar the 2015 elections, Bishop Chukwuma called on Nigerians to be more faithful to God, pursue peace and righteousness.

“We should all work dedicatedly for the unity and peace of this nation as we celebrate our century. Any attempt by anybody to fuel violence or confusion will call for the review of our amalgamation,” he said.

He therefore commended Nigerians and security operatives for the peaceful atmosphere that prevailed throughout the Christmas and New Year celebrations and prayed that the year 2014 will bring more blessings and progress for the country.

Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress, APC, has assured Nigerians that the party is ready, willing and determined to make all the necessary sacrifices to reverse the prevailing gloomy situation in the country and bring about the much-needed change for the better in the interest of the long-suffering citizens.

In a New Year message signed by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Lagos yesterday, the APC told Nigerians to go into the New Year with “an unyielding commitment to be part of ongoing efforts to set the country on the path of growth and development, rather than get into a state of funk on the basis of the cumulative mis-governance of the past 14 years by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP-led Federal Government.

Mohammed said: “While wishing all Nigerians a great 2014, we hereby solicit their unalloyed support for our efforts to reshape the country’s political landscape, shake off the heavy yoke imposed on them by their selfish, selfserving and clueless leaders and make the country a source of pride not only to its citizens but to all black people in the world.

“As we wrote in the preamble to our manifesto, democracy, to be stable and meaningful, must be anchored on the principle that government derives its powers from the consent of the governed.

This means that governments are instituted on the basis of free, fair and credible elections, and are maintained through responsiveness to public opinion. “In addition, the exercise of political authority is rooted in the rule of law.

The APC believes in the doctrine of social contract between the leaders and the led; which means that the public office holder is a trustee of the people and that power must be used in the interest of the people rather than in the interest of the public office holder.

“We ask all those who are yearning for genuine change to seize the moment and embrace the engine of change, which the APC represents! Our compatriots who have lost faith in our dear country because of inefficient and corrupt leadership can count on us, because we represent committed, transparent and focused leadership.”

APC isnsited that year 2013 was among the worst, if not the worst, for the citizenry, “who have been pauperised and dehumanized” by a government that keeps touting favourable economic statistics in the face of an unprecedented fall in the standard of living of its people.

Mohammed said: “They say President Goodluck Jonathan’s achievement in 2013 is unprecedented, yet Nigerians celebrated the Christmas and New Year holidays in unprecedented pitch darkness and an unprecedented number of our youths are unemployed; they say they are winning the war against corruption, yet key government officials, including the so-called Coordinating Minister of the Economy, do not even know how much Nigeria earns from crude oil and gas sales, and what happened to $12 billion earned from domestic crude lifting; They are so eager to cling to any straw of “achievement” that they are celebrating the revival of the locomotive engine in the 21st century!

by OLAJIDE OMOJOLOMOJU, DENNIS AGBO, MURITALA AYINLA on Jan 1, 2014
Posted under: Highlights, News
National mirror

This man shld respect the work of God and focus on it rather than dabbling incorrectly in the nations politics. How dare he knows dat there was a better leader than President Jonathan? If a cleric could talk this way wat do u expect of an area tout? Stop draging Christians into political sucide, wat qualifies u to suggest or speak the mind of Christians in the first place. Please this is 2014 and as a fellow Christian i want to put it clear to u that a true Christian doesnt speaker partially in favour of some people. Pls stop foreseeing all those bulshit vision because there are not frm God.

Ok

APC and Tinubu must have settled this man.....