Second Republic federal lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, yesterday dispelled fears that Nigeria would break if President Goodluck Jonathan was not allowed a second term in office in 2015.
Mohammed pointed out that the country had gone beyond the stage of disintegrating on account of the electoral fortune of one man.
The political commentator made the claim in reaction to the assertion by former Anambra State governor, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, that Nigeria would break up if President Goodluck Jonathan was not allowed a second term in office.
The former governor had said in an interview with Vanguard that the issue of Nigeria’s continued existence and second term for Jonathan were inseparable and that any attempt by any group under any guise to deny Jonathan of his second term could lead to unintended consequences.
One of the consequences, according to Ezeife, is that aggrieved Niger Delta militants would blow up oil facilities and threaten the future existence of the country.
But Mohammed while responding to the issue on the phone from Kano, described Ezeife as the wrong person to issue such a threat at a time when the country was already boiling because of careless actions and utterances of loose politicians in the country.
Mohammed, who was apparently irked by the assertion by the former governor, accused him of stoking avoidable fire so as to win the sympathy of President Jonathan for political patronage, which he had been denied since leaving office many years ago.
The northern political commentator noted that it was out of place for a former governor, who is regarded as an elder to forget where he was coming from and dance naked in the open just for cheap popularity and political patronage.
Mohammed said: “It is unfortunate that Ezeife, who witness the Biafran war orchestrated by his kinsmen, which claimed over one million of Igbo people, should be beating the drums of war today.
“It is, therefore, clear to all that the man has lost touch with reality and is merely playing to the gallery for selfish motives.
“People like Ezeife are perpetual political opportunists in the Nigerian political arena and should be ignored especially when they fan the embers of ethnicity and war in time of peace such as we have in Nigeria.
“My candid advice to Nigerians is that they should ignore him because he does not have a good sense of history and does not speak for anyone in Nigeria.”
Mohammed also dismissed the claim that Niger Delta militants would blow up oil facilities and divide the country if Jonathan lost the next election, saying that with a credible administration in place, terrorists would not have a place in the scheme of things.
“Contrary to Ezeife’s postulation, Niger Delta militants or any terrorist group cannot be a threat to a government that emerges through credible, free and fair election in Nigeria,” Mohammed said.
Ezeife had warned: “Everybody can make noise but if those who are making noise should think deeply, they would realize that the continued existence of Nigeria as one country is anchored on Jonathan’s continuation in office come 2015.”
On what would happen if President Jonathan contested the election and lost, he said: “We would be faced with the same problem.
“The Niger Delta boys would blow up all the oil pipelines and then a part of the country could say they are no longer interested in Nigeria; they could say Nigeria legally expired when the nation marked its centenary and that they are now on their own.
“This is not what I want, but I am afraid it could happen if we foolishly think of only our short term interest, instead of thinking of long term implications.
By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North
