Immigration recruitment tragedy: APC accuses Jonathan of taking political advantage of calamities

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of tak­ing political advantage of the tragedy that befell Ni­geria under his watch.
The government had last week doled out the sum of five million naira to each of the families that lost their relatives in last year’s Im­migration recruitment trag­edy.
But APC described the gesture which came one year after the incident as not only belated but an attempt by the president to curry votes.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Saturday by its National Publicity Secre­tary, Alhaji Lai Moham­med, the party wondered why it took the President one year to act on the prom­ise he made to the families, adding that, but for the forthcoming elections, the President would have sim­ply ignored the families in his usual style.

“The truth is that this President was forced to act because of the elections. Otherwise, why has it taken one year for the President to redeem his promise to the bereaved families? Why has his administration not sanctioned those who sent innocent job seekers to their early graves after extorting them? Why is the Interior Minister, Mr. Abba Moro, who presided over the deaths, still in office, virtu­ally dancing on the graves of those innocent youths?

“Sunday, March 15th, will mark one year since those vibrant youths were lured to their deaths by a callous federal government that failed them in all rami­fications, including the se­curity of their lives and the assurance of their welfare, the raison d’etre of any gov­ernment.
It is therefore utterly rep­rehensible, immoral and wicked for the same admin­istration to seek to make po­litical gains out of the need­less tragedy,’’ it said.
APC said President Jona­than, in his desperation for re-election, has also sought to take political advantage of other tragedies, including

the Buni Yadi massacre of school children and the abduction of Chibok girls.
“After refusing to even visit the families of those school children in Buni Yadi and Chibok, the Presi­dent suddenly woke up and started sending delegations to meet with them, all this because he needs votes. As a parent himself, how will the President feel if he had been so treated? Why must the President put his re-election over and above everything else, including the welfare and security of Nigerians? Is there no limit to desperation,’’ the party queried.
It said Nigerians are keenly aware of the fact that this President has suddenly woken up from his deep slumber and become artifi­cially hyperactive, making repeated visits to regions that he had neglected in the past six years and doling out hard currencies even at a time the Naira was taking a beating, all for election purposes.

“No one is fooled by the antics of a desperate Presi­dent, and in the fullness of time, Nigerians will show President Jonathan and his cohorts that they are not im­pressed by his pretend gov­ernance,’’ APC said.
The Sun