Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, on Wednesday, came down hard on President Goodluck Jonathan, asking him to resign from office for running “a system that does not have the interest of the country at heart”.
Addressing supporters of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ilorin, Kwara State, during the formal declaration of Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed for a second term, the Speaker warned that should the president failed to do so, Nigerian voters should revolt against him at the February presidential poll.
The Speaker had, at the APC extra-ordinary convention last week, said the party would chase out the “cabal” running the country at the poll next year.
“I call on President Jonathan to resign from office because of all the mis-governance and the untold hardship Nigerians are presently passing through,” he said.
“If he fails to do that, it is therefore incumbent on us as a people to turn out en-masse and vote out Goodluck Ebele Jonathan come 2015. That will bring peace, progress and development of Nigeria.”
“I am sure that (Kwara) state will provide such leadership to the extent that we shall deliver this country to the government at the centre to APC,” he said in Ilorin on Wednesday.
“By voting APC at the centre you will be voting for prosperity and eradication of poverty. What we are witnessing today in Nigeria is not governance, but mis-governance. We are witnessing a system that does not have the interest of the people of this country at heart.”
The Speaker described Kwara State’s political history as a rich one, saying the foundation of the political struggle and the structure laid by the late Olusola Saraki was being sustained by God.
Stating that the voting pattern known among the people of Kwara State would not be different next year, Tambuwal noted that with the support of the people, the APC would “form 100 percent of the government in the state from the local council to state Assembly and to the Government House”.
Also speaking at the event, a former governor of Lagos, Bola Tinubu, lambasted Jonathan for allowing the Boko Haram terrorists to seize parts of the nation’s territory, stating that he ought to have resigned because of the development.
He said, “I saw the sea of refuges and the lies coming from Jonathan’s administration. They have exhibited failure, lack of capacity, vision, creativity; the lie of yesterday is what they repeat today and it is what they will repeat tomorrow. They are lying to you. They are lying about the security, toying about the security of this country. I don’t have time to explain the logic of their lies.”
“If you control the armed forces and you are the Commander-in-Chief of the armed of the federal republic, why should any part of this country be under occupation?
“And you give us excuses every day. In any civilised country, Jonathan should have resigned. But if he will not resign he should wait for our broom we will sweep them away.”
The APC leader, who recently returned from a medical trip abroad, asked the party members to be ready for change because the race had begun.
He said the party had endorsed Mr. Ahmed for second term because he performed well in office like his predecessor, Bukola Saraki.
Tinubu alleged that the PDP administration not only steals the people’s money on daily basis, but also refused to give them jobs.
According to him, “The thieves that daily steal your money, they have not given you any job; they cannot create jobs and they are starving states of funds to pay workers salaries. The best thing to do is to sweep them away through broom revolution. APC is a party of the masses.”
He said this was the first time he would be on a podium with Saraki to campaign for the same party, and asked the APC faithful in the state to commence a house-to-house campaign to signal a new beginning.
He added, “Now it is time to apply commonsense revolution and it is about your lives. It is about your education, your jobs and about the security of this country. We stay together since independence and we will remain together. Any affecting any section of this country affects all of us.”
“I will come back. This is just the endorsement of Governor Ahmed; that he will be re-elected by the grace of God with the support of you people here and those outside there. The unemployment situation will be conquered by this administration of APC. We have the vision for the security of lives of our children.”
On his part, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said he was a foundation member of the current political dispensation in Kwara State.
While wishing that the late Saraki were alive, Abubakar said, “We should make sure we sustain the legacy Oloye left behind by making sure that Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed is returned.”
Justifying his bid for second term, MAhmed said the state was much better than he met it.
“Today, before all of you, I make bold to say we have essentially fulfilled our covenant and in the process strengthened your faith in governance,’’ he said.
“I humbly and formally declare my intention to run for a second term in office so that I can do more for our state and its people. By the grace of God and with your mandate, we intend to accelerate the development of our state when re-elected for a second term in office.”
Other APC leaders at the event, held at Metropolitan Square, Ilorin, were presidential hopefuls, Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Rabi’u Kwankwaso of Kano State and Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State.
Governors Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State, Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State, Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, former Governor Bukola Saraki and former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, were also in attendance.
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