Thursday, December 18, 2014

Accusing Jonathan of sponsoring Boko Haram is not fair - Yakassai, Okupe

The Chairman of the Northern Patriotic Front (NPF), Alhaji Tanko Yakassai and the Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okuupe have absolved the President of accusations that he was behind the Boko Haram insurgency in the north of Nigeria. The duo were among various speakers  at the media presentation of Jonathan as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)in Lagos on Wednesday.
According to Yakassai, the Boko Haram insurgency began in 2002 when President Jonathan was not yet in office.
“Boko Haram came into the Nigerian scene way back in 2002, three years into President Olusegun Oba-sanjo’s government. That was how Boko Haram started, and it has been there from then till date.
“I can also say that indeed, no government will encourage insurgency against itself. Any one who says Jonathan is funding insurgency in the North is enormously wrong,” Yakassai said.
The elder statesman how-ever commended President Jonathan for retaining his vice, Namadi Sambo as his running mate.
“The North is grateful to Jonathan for retaining Sambo as his running mate. In the last five years, we have never heard that Jonathan has issues with his vice, unlike previous presidents,” he said.
Similarly, Okupe said Nigerians must appreciate that the country is at war and that President Jonathan should not be blamed for the situation, especially in the case of the missing Chibok school girls.


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