NIGERIA NEWS: LAGOS FUEL SUBSIDY
By Gadiola Emanuel - 6:34:00 AM
September 19, 2012 by Niyi Odebode, John Alechenu and Olalekan Adetayo, Abuja
President Goodluck Jonathan
President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday resuscitated the controversy, which followed the fuel subsidy removal in January.
Jonathan alleged that the Occupy
Nigeria anti-fuel subsidy removal mass protest, organised by civil
society groups in Lagos in the wake of the removal of fuel subsidy in
January, was manipulated by an unnamed class of people.
He said the protest was not a true reflection of the position of the masses but that of those who sponsored them.
But civil rights groups and an opposition party took a swipe at the President, saying he had alienated himself from the people.
At the 52nd Independence anniversary
lecture on Tuesday, Jonathan also recanted his earlier position
describing himself as the most criticised president in the World.
He explained that he had since
discovered that his earlier position taken during the last general
conference of the Nigeria Bar Association was erroneous.
Earlier, Former President of Ghana, Mr.
John Kufour, delivered the lecture entitled ‘Nigeria: Security,
Development and National Transformation’.
Jonathan said the manner in which the mass protest was conducted smacked of a sinister motive.
He noted that the best musicians and
comedians were hired to perform while participants were served with
choice foods and drinks was an indication that the whole event was
stage-managed.
He said, “Look at the demonstrations
back home, look at the areas these demonstrations are coming from, you
begin to ask, are these the ordinary citizens that are demonstrating? Or
are people pushing them to demonstrate?
“Take the case of Lagos, Lagos is a
critical state in the nation’s economy, it controls about 53 per cent of
the economy and all tribes are there.
“The demonstration in Lagos, people were
given bottled water that people in my village don’t have access to.
People were given expensive food that the ordinary people in Lagos
cannot eat. So even going to eat free alone attracts people.
“They go and hire the best musicians to
come and play and the best comedian to come and entertain. Is that
demonstration? Are you telling me that that is a demonstration from
ordinary masses in Nigeria who want to communicate something to
government?
“I believe that that protest in Lagos was manipulated by a class in Lagos and was not from the ordinary people.”
He took a swipe at the mass media which
he said have been criticising him even during his first six months in
office, saying such belong to the “political media.”
The President attributed most of the criticisms targeted at him to the politics of 2015.
On his earlier claim that he was the
most criticised President in the world, Jonathan said, “I just returned
from Malawi where the President there was complaining that the media
were being hard on her, especially the social media and I told her not
to bother herself.
“Recently, I was talking to the NBA and I
described myself as the most criticised President and when I left, one
of my aides said I am not the most criticised President.
“He downloaded some samples of people
from countries writing against their governments and Presidents and I
said oh, Nigeria is even better.”
Meanwhile, Kufour in his lecture, identified imbalanced development as a major cause of insecurity in Nigeria.
“Naturally, imbalanced development that
involves horizontal inequalities is an important source of conflict and
that is costing Nigeria the opportunity to be the giant nation that it
can and should be,” he said.
The former President said only a government that delivers on security and development could earn its continued stay in office.
He said, “The challenge is to
accelerate the pace of development by using institutions of the federal
Constitution as a nursery ground for producing leaders who are national
in outlook and with a missionary zeal to transform this nation.
“This will help to mold the contending
ethnic and religious groups into harmony and help to remove the
perceived mutual distrust among them.”
Faulting the President, the Campaign for
Democracy, one of the organised of the January protest, said Jonathan’s
statement was provocative.
The CD president, Dr. Joe
Okei-Odumakin, said, “This is aprovocative statement. It is annonying,
insultive. It shows President does not give a damn. Today fuel sells for
N150 per litre.”
Also, the Congress for Progressive Change, said the President’s statement was not surprising.
The party’s National Publicity
Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said, “It is not surprising that this
comment was made by the President because this regime has alienated
itself from the Nigerian people.
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