TheCable

President Goodluck Jonathan says the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) wanted to assassinate him in the October 1, 2010 bombing at the Eagle Square, Abuja.

He was speaking at the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos on Thursday, during the flag-off of his presidential campaign while reacting to the endorsement of his opponent, Muhammadu Buhari, by the militant group led by Henry Okah, who is in prison in South Africa for gun-running.

Twelve persons were killed in the 2010 attack, while 17 others were injured.

Accusing the opposition of orchestrating a campaign of calumny against him, particularly on social media, he said his administration had improved the lot of Nigerians in many regards.

“I saw a headline in one of the newspapers, saying MEND dumps Jonathan, did you see it?” he asked.

“The leader of MEND is Henry Okah, Okah is in prison in South Africa, not even in Nigeria, where they could have said I manipulated it. Okah is in the prison because on October 1 2010 when we were to celebrate our independence, our golden year of independence, Okah was procured by some Nigerians to assassinate me.

At the PDP campaign flag-off in Lagos on Thursday

“Now he is endorsing some people, is that the kind of country you want? Do you want Nigeria to go backward or forward?”

At the time of the bombing, Jonathan accused his political opponents of being the brain behind it and he as much as suggested that the endorsement of Buhari by MEND was a confirmation of his suspicion.

Jonathan, who said his message was meant for first-time voters, added that he intended using his campaign to respond to criticisms of his government by the opposition in the areas of insecurity, corruption and weak government.

“My message is for young people, because 2015 election is for the young people,” he said.

“This country belongs to you. Those people who say they want to take over power from the PDP have told a lot of lies. First, let me tell you about voter cards. Only yesterday, I directed INEC to make sure that all Nigerians get their voter cards.

“Before 2011, people were just voting themselves into office, there was nothing like voter cards. We came and said every Nigerian vote must count and since then, the voter cards have become relevant. And I also want to advise the young people here, particularly the first-time voters.

“It is either you vote and continue to be relevant in Nigeria’s political history or you vote for you to be irrelevant.  You either vote for your liberation or imprisonment. Some people want to take Nigeria backward, is that what you want? Do you want to go back to the era when there was no freedom, when your uncles were being jailed anyhow?

“Some people believe that the only way to fight corruption is to get people arrested and show them on television. So immediately I suspect your uncle or your father, I would just pick him up and throw him into Kirikiri. Is that how to fight corruption?

“If truly they had succeeded in fighting corruption, corruption would not have been with us here today.

“They built prisons for you, but I built you schools. They want power by all means and all what they want to use power for is to lock up and imprison their enemies but I have no enemy to fight. My interest is your interest. My interest is the Nigerian interest and for the future generations and young Nigerians to develop.”

Attributing the current rot in the military to neglect by successive governments, including that of Buhari, a former military head of state, Jonathan expressed confidence in the country’s armed forces.

“They talk about insecurity, that they will fight insecurity and you will ask are our armed forces weak?” he asked

“Are the Nigerians in the armed forces weak? If we have problems what is the cause—equipment. And somebody who wakes up and tells young people of 23 years old that he wants to fight insecurity, ask him when he was the head of government did he buy one rifle for a Nigerian soldier?

“These people did not buy anything for the Nigerian soldiers. They refused to equip them. No attack helicopter, nothing. Ask them what they did with the defence budget for the whole time they were in office.

“No country equips armed forces overnight. What they use is quite expensive and they are built over the years. Even if you spend 10 billion dollars today, you cannot equip the army, navy and air force

Citing personal instances, the president maintained that what the opposition presented as principles of discipline by its presidential candidate, only translated to hardship for the masses.

“You are no longer queuing up and leaving your cars in fuel stations. Can you do that without planning?” he asked.

“When I was a lecturer in Port Harcourt, I would park my car in filling stations suffering for days. Then Nigerians go to fuel stations and sleep overnight to buy fuel or tip those who sell fuel to be able to buy.

“They hoard fuel and they benefit from the hoarding. Who are those who benefitted from hoarding fuel? Since we came on board, have you suffered? Do you need to bribe someone before you get fuel?

“I will tell you maybe some of you do not know, in 1983, I don’t know for the young people, some of you who are writing all sort of things on the social media. In 1983/84, what they called discipline as a post graduate student instead of reading my book, the whole night I queued up to buy two tins of milk. And they say that is discipline.

“So we should make you queue up the whole night as students to buy two tins of milk? Is that the discipline you want?”

Jonathan urged Nigerians to vote for the ruling party at the forthcoming election, promising that his government will improve the lot of the common man.