The All Progressives Congress (APC) Sunday in strong terms condemned the killing of the Emir of Gwoza, Alhaji Idrissa Timta and urged a section of the public to desist from labeling the sect as a response to Jonathan’s Presidency.
The Emir was Friday killed by suspected members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect was on his way to the funeral of the Emir of Gombe who had passed on at a hospital in London.
The Opposition party in a statement issued in Lagos, by it’s Interim National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed said, ”Boko Haram is not a northern response to a southern presidency, as some would have us believe.
The statement reads, “Boko Haram is an enemy of Nigeria; whether Christians or Muslims, southerners or northerners, the lowly or the elite, the young or the old, the poor and the rich. They must be seen for what they are: fringe elements who happen to have linked up with other terror groups around the world to acquire training and weapons which they are now using to terrorize a whole nation.”
According to the party, the Emirs, who are Muslims and symbols of power in the north, can be so dastardly attacked, with deadly consequences, should convince those who would rather engage in blame game than fight the bandits that what the country faces is neither a strictly religious nor elite war, and make them to change their jaundiced mindset
The party maintained that, ”If indeed Boko Haram was sponsored by the so-called northern elites against Jonathan, how come they are not even sparing the same elites? If indeed Boko Haram is sponsored by the north against Jonathan, why are their deadly attacks concentrated in the north, where they have killed thousands and destroyed facilities and infrastructure worth billions?
The party urged Nigerians to see Boko Haram for what it is, and come together as a people to fight the insurgents, rather than engage in denial, blame game and finger pointing that can only weaken our resolve as a nation to tackle this fringe group squarely.
”Those who saw Boko Haram, erroneously, as a political trump card have now suffered a boomerang, and today the Jonathan Administration is seen globally as incompetent, clueless and rudderless largely because of its inept handling of the Boko Haram insurgency, especially the unfortunate abduction of innocent school girls which has lingered. This is what you get when you play politics with a serious national problem,” the party said.
”We also reiterate our offer to join hands with the government in a non-partisan effort to battle the menace of Boko Haram, even though the government has yet to reach out to us since we made that offer,” the statement concluded.
