The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo has thrown his weight behind his principal, President Muhammadu Buhari amid the backlash a Tuesday statement of the president stirred.
The minister advised Nigerians not to teach the president how to restore calm and order in the southeast region that has increasingly witnessed attacks on police stations and offices of the electoral body, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The President had in a statement on Tuesday night said a rude shock awaits those fanning the embers of insurrection and those burning down critical national assets.
He also said those misbehaving in certain parts of the country were obviously too young to know the travails and loss of lives that attended the Nigerian Civil War.
“Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.
“We are going to be very hard sooner than later,” he said sternly.
The reference of the President to the civil stirred an outburst of the threat having a genocide undertone as such, a lot of Nigerians took to Twitter to express their displeasure with the president’s alleged history of talking tough against the Igbos.
Reacting to the statement amid the negative reception however, Keyamo in a series of tweets explained the position of the President and said the Mr Buhari’s threat was to the insurgents causing mayhem in the region.
He tweeted, “I hope some elites who couldn’t find their voices to rein in their wards when their region burnt, will not suddenly find their voices against Mr. President! Those who screamed that it’s Mr. President’s duty to maintain law & order should NOT try to teach him how to do his job now.
“The anger some are displaying against the President’s resolve to be decisive in dealing with these scoundrels is an indication of their support for the destruction of public infrastructure because they want to cripple Govt. A pure case of cutting your nose to spite your face!
“The President has vowed to deal with the scoundrels destroying public infrastructure & killing people to instigate insurrection & some dimwits really interpret this to mean he is threatening INNOCENT citizens! This reasoning is so ABSURD that I don’t know whether to laugh or cry
“We were told they are UNKNOWN GUNMEN. But the moment the President vowed to deal with these ‘unknown’ elements, they have suddenly become known as INNOCENT CITIZENS in a part of the country! It is a case of ‘Cunning man die, Wayo man bury am’! A huge conspiracy blown wide open!”
