Jonathan Has Failed Woefully, No One Should Associate With Him – Junaid Mohammed

A northern leader, who was a member of the House of Representatives in the second republic, Dr Junaid Mohammed has described the government of President Goodluck Jonathan as one that people should not associate with, as he has failed woefully in the fundamental responsibilities of government.

“Whenever a politician is campaigning for votes, my attitude is usually based on what he has promised and assess his performance in office via-a vis the promises he made. Besides that, the responsibility of government is the maintenance of law and order. A government must protect your life and mine, your property and mine, these are fundamental responsibilities of government. And when government fails in that rule number one, that government ceases to be a government that one should associate with,” Junaid told Vanguard in an interview.

According to him, Jonathan has failed woefully in the basic responsibilities of the government.

“We have, right now, a very nasty insurgency, carried out by few terrorists in the name of Boko Haram in the North-East which has been deserted,” noted Junaid.

“As we speak, the Chief of the Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, has his village in Adamawa being run down by these Boko Harm elements. That does not portend credibility. I am worried because if the Nigerian armed forces today are in no position to protect your life and mine, then we are in very serious trouble – the presidency has not been able to do anything to protect our lives. The situation is a lot worse than it was when he came into power. All he has been able to do it to make us more angry, intolerable,” he said.

He described the Federal Government as being economical with the truth on the issue of the abducted Chibok girls who have been held captive by the Boko Haram since they were abducted from their school of April 14.

“The world has been outraged and expressed maximum concern. Instead of government confronting the issue, what they have attempted to do was to turn the whole matter into a political issue. They wanted to use the lives of the girls to play political football. Everyday, they tell you the president is working hard, very had to the sure the girls are released,” the former lawmaker said.

He also commented on the issue of the embattled Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, whose defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) has caused a lot of controversy, leading to his security details being withdrawn by the the Police Inspector General.

“Whether Tambuwal had the right to defect to another political party, to me, is not an issue. My concern is, if any public officer changes party, it is not the duty of the police to interpret what the law says. It is not healthy for a supposed independent police to be seen openly taking sides with the government of the day and trying to win favour from the government. That is despicable,” Junaid said.

According to him, the action of the Police chief is seen by many as being supportive of the President, saying when the police force tries to interpret the law like this, it is simply breaching the Constitution.

What the police is trying to do, Junaid says, is the responsibility of the judiciary.

“Let the court determine Tambuwal’s action. Let the police do its work so that our environment can be safe for our children to go to school, play; so that Nigerians can move freely and earn a living,” he said.

He therefore advised the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abbah, not to mess himself up like Joseph Mbu did in Rivers State, which he has continued in Abuja.

“I think his action is not in the interest of the service. He should look beyond being I.G. He should be concerned about the State of the service after he is gone while he is still there,” Junaid said.