Some So Called Elder Statesmen Are Mere Motor Park Touts..Goodluck Jonathan

Hitting back at his critics, President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday said some  Nigerians tagging themselves as statesmen are “ordinary politicians” considering their utterances.

According to him, having occupied an elective office as a politician does not make such person  a statesman.

Jonathan stated this when he hosted a delegation of the Northern Elders Council (NEC) at  the Presidential Villa.

He said politicians making provocative utterances to cause disaffection and bring the country down are not worthy to be called statesmen.

Jonathan noted that such politicians engaged in such trade because they do not get what they want.

He stressed that a lot of lies had been told about his administration to paint him black, saying Nigerians would soon know who the true statesmen  are.

“Let me join the vice-president to welcome you today and to tell you that we sincerely appreciate what you are doing in the country because we have been monitoring all you have been doing.

“I also believe a team must think about key things, how people will live together in unity, how are we ensuring that there is peace around us. Because without peace, without unity, there can never be development.

“I feel sad that our younger ones are beginning to see  Nigeria as if we are so divided. A Nigeria who is a Muslim and a Christian cannot seat down together. I was told that even the driver of Tafawa Balewa was a Christian.

“Our people lived together in those days why not now that we have even modern ways of life. Our children leave us and go abroad they stay together and do a lot of things together.

“But when we come back home,  we begin to build walls, this is a southerner, this is a northerner, this is a Muslim, this is a Christian, this is a Yoruba man, this is an Hausa man, this is an Ijaw man, this is a Nupe man. Is that the way we are going to develop our country?

“America is great today because it is made up of various cultural groups, everybody made America because ethnic lines have been so weakened that people think about America.

“And that is why America is great today. Any country that begins to see themselves through their tiny tribal enclaves cannot go anywhere.

“If today I’m sick and the best doctor that can treat me is from Zamfara or  Enugu or  Ekiti States, they will bring that doctor to treat me.  They will not ask if that doctor is an Ijaw man, Ogbia or any other tribe.

“And until we get to that level where we begin to use people based on their  competences, yes they must be spread in political appointments and so on, but until we get to that level where we don’t discriminate based on primordial privileges that of course will be the beginning of our development.

“And that is what we stand for. I will continue to plead with you because from all of your activities you have been advocating for that,” he said.

Jonathan said: “Some people say Jonathan hates the North. I have heard that statement and I use to ask Namadi Sambo, they say I hate the North but you are here. I asked the National Security Adviser and my Principal Secretary the same thing.  In fact, my principal secretary has been with me since I was the deputy governor. I never knew he was going to come here as vice-president not to talk of president.

“But I have known him since I was the deputy governor of Bayelsa State. My Chief Detail, Yusuf, from Borno State has been with me since I was a deputy governor in Bayelsa and I see him as a good person and I have carried him along. So I had to ask how can somebody wake up and say I hate the North?

“I used to tell Nigerians I come from the downtrodden, what you call the talakawas, I come from that level  and I am here today talking to Alhaji Jemeta because I went to school. And I said the only thing that can liberate an individual or a group of individuals is education. If I didn’t go to school, I wouldn’t have been here to talk to big people like this.”

Earlier, leader of the delegation, Tanko Yakasai, said:  “Mr. President, Nigeria is passing through political transformation and it is important for all Nigerians and indeed northerners to appreciate the fact that this country was crafted in such a manner that no one section can rule the country without the support of the other. It was indeed the North, in its characteristics culture of fairness and equity that endorsed the principle of power shift which brought about the Presidency of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and your humble self.

“It behooves on us as northerners and indeed all Nigerians to continue to respect the principles and sustainance of democracy in Nigeria.”

He said Northern Elders Council believed in peaceful co-existence and extension of hands of fellowship to brothers and sisters from the other side of the nation.

According to Yakassai, it was unpatriotic for anybody to instigate people against any person or people because of a temporary gain.

“Politics of insult, blackmail and castigation of individuals shall not take this country anywhere. We therefore believe in peaceful co-existence among Nigerians and by working together shall we move” he added.

In another development, President  Jonathan on Wednesday promised that there would be peaceful elections in the country next month.

He said though newspapers reports often presented a nation on the verge of burning, but noted that the country will remain safe.

Jonathan spoke when he received the report of 2013/2014 Hajj presented to him by the leader of the delegation to Presidential Villa, Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Saad III.

Jonathan urged religious leaders to continue to pray for the peace of the country, especially as the elections inch closer.

“Anytime you open the papers, it is as if the country wants to burn, but Nigeria will surely be safe, Nigeria will surely be united and we will prosecute the election in the end and this country will surely be a peaceful country and we will all collectively work hard to transform our economy, but you should pray for the peaceful conduct of the general elections and peaceful transition.

“I thank you for your leadership and I thank you for making sure that the number of people you carry to hajj is mammoth and without good management there could have been a lot of crisis. We thank Allah that He has seen us through. If there were minor incidences, I think they were extremely manageable,” Jonathan said.

Earlier, the Sultan thanked Jonathan for supporting Hajj operations in the country, adding that tremendous achievements and progress had been achieved since the Hajj operations started under national Hajj Commission of Nigeria.

He suggested to Jonathan to set up a small technical committee comprising  religious leaders of both Christians and Muslims to see how they can be self sustaining and independent, how the various statutes that put together the two commissions could be amended to enable them source for funds.

The royal father told Jonathan that during the Hajj operations in the Holy land, the leadership of the team, the Oba of Lagos and the Muslim clerics from all over the country came together and organised special prayers for peace stability and progress of the country and most importantly for the peaceful conduct of the elections