The All Progressives Congress, APC, has condemned President Goodluck Jonathan’s comment against Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima during the Presidential Media Chat on Monday, calling it unwarranted, unpresidential and petty.
In a statement on Tuesday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said that Jonathan was wrong “to have threatened, no matter how subtly,” to withdraw from Borno the troops battling against Boko Haram insurgents.
The party asked the President to apologise to the people of Borno State and to all Nigerians for what it described as “presidential indiscretion.”
It believed that the threat, which was in response to the statement credited to the governor that the soldiers, battling the terrorists, needed to be better equipped and more motivated, “showed clearly that President Jonathan does not have a full grasp of what is expected of him as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.”
“Mr. President, your most important duty as President is to ensure the welfare and security of all Nigerians, irrespective of the criticisms you may face or whether or not they voted for you. Therefore, you are not doing anyone a favour by performing that duty. It is the role you swore an oath to perform.
”Also, even if you feel that the governor should not have made the statement he made, it is incumbent upon you, as the President and the father of the nation, to take the higher road, instead of choosing a public forum to air your grievances.
“Wittingly or unwittingly, Mr. President, you have played into the hands of the insurgents, who must by now be gloating at the discordant tunes in government over the battle against them,” the APC statement stated.
It said based on the anger exhibited by Jonathan while commenting on Shettima’s statement, the party was justified in its call on the President not to go ahead with his reported plan to remove the governor and replace him with a military administrator.
