You’re to blame for your defeat, Ijaw groups tell Jonathan

by Dolapo Adelana

Prominent Ijaw groups and elders, Friday, said former President Goodluck Jonathan had himself to blame or his defeat in the 2015 Presidential election, The Nation reports.

According to the leaders, Jonathan should stop heaping his woes on the north come clean on the issues that led to his ouster from the Presidency.

The former president was quoted in a new book, Against the Run of Play, written by Segun Adeniyi as saying that the conspiracy of the North was responsible for his loss.

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But the two prominent Ijaw groups, Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Worldwide and the Ijaw National Congress (INC) including some Ijaw leaders differed sharply from Jonathan’s claims.

The President of IYC, Mr. Eric Omare, said Jonathan shot himself in the foot by not making use of the security and intelligence at his disposal.

He said, “I would like to align myself with statements credited to former Senate President David Mark who said that he told Jonathan that there was a conspiracy against him but how Jonathan could not decipher the information was what he could not fathom.

“Jonathan would not say he didn’t know about the conspiracy. You cannot be the commander-in-chief with all security at your disposal without knowing of a conspiracy by a region against you. It was a conspiracy that was obvious to all Nigerians except himself. He needs not say it”.

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Also, a famous Ijaw leader and immediate past President of IYC, Mr. Udengs Eradiri, said Jonathan should blame himself not the north.

He said, “I don’t see the north as betraying Jonathan. I think that the problem was that Jonathan did not have the machinery necessary to give him full feedback of what was happening. It was Jonathan’s fault not the fault of the north.

“A leader must have a feedback machinery and always have the team that reviews information that comes from the field. As a President apart from your routine government machinery or security informants, you must have your personal-on-the-ground assessment.

“I remember that at a point as IYC President, I made a publication calling on the President at that time to go outside security protocol and land at Port Harcourt Airport instead of using helicopter to Yenagoa and that he would see the neglect of the people by the government.

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“I told him that security was only deceiving him and telling him that following the road to Yenagoa was risky. So anytime he was coming to the region, he was flying helicopter so he could not see how bad the region was until the day we were escorting him to Yenagoa and he almost wept at the state of the East-West Road.

“So, it is not the fault of the north. It was Jonathan’s fault. As a President, he should have had a feedback mechanism especially towards election so that he would use it as a buffer,” he said.

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