Presidency Accuses Atiku Of ContributingTo Insurgency In Northeast

A senior presidential aide, Doyin Okupe,
on Tuesday in Abuja condemned a bigwig
of the All Progressives Congress (APC),
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, for his recent
comments on insecurity in the Northeast,
alleging that some past utterances of the
former Vice-President contributed the
escalation of the insurgency.

Abubakar Atiku
Dr. Okupe, the Senior Special Assistant to
President Goodluck Jonathan on Public
Affairs made the remark during the
second day of PUBLIC AFFAIRS FORUM,
organised by his office to enable Ministers
give account of their stewardship to
members of civil society organisations,
professional groups and artisans.
Referring to a statement by Atiku at the
Northern stakeholders Forum in 2010 that
“those who make peaceful change
impossible will make violent change
inevitable,” Okupe said it was unfortunate
that those who desperately stoked the fire
of insurgency are now laying the blame
on the shoulders of a government that is
working hard to put it out.
He described it as a mark of unpatriotism
for Atiku to talk down on the military,
which he hopes to lead if elected
President of the Federal Republic.
Okupe said the former Vice President was
not known to have taken any hard
position on terrorists and terrorism in the
past and shouldn't expect to gain any
political mileage from the unfortunate
killings and kidnappings in some parts of
the North by presenting himself as being
on the side of the victims of the
insurgency.
He advised the APC presidential aspirant
to learn from political leaders in other
climes who drop the toga of partisanship
in moments of national crisis by
supporting their government to raise the
hope of citizens and defeat enemies of
civilization.
Okupe said that the President will not be
distracted by negative comments from
Atiku and a few others whose only
concern is politics rather than nation.
Jonathan, he stressed, will continue to
work assiduously with security chiefs and
community stakeholders to restore peace
to Northern Nigeria in the shortest
possible time.

SOURCE:
SAHARAREPORTERS,