President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday
lambasted the Kano State Governor, Musa
Kwankwaso, saying he is a political “gambler”
who is hallucinating about becoming Nigeria’s
president.
Mr. Jonathan, who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES
through his Special Adviser on Media and
Publicity, Ruben Abati, was responding to
criticisms by Mr. Kwankwaso that the
president lacked the capacity to serve as
commander in-chief of Nigeria’s Armed
Forces.
The governor, who is a presidential aspirant
on the platform of the All Progressives
Congress, APC, had during his campaign fund
launch in Abuja on Saturday made scathing
remarks about the Presidency.
He urged APC faithful and Nigerians to vote
for the right person to replace Mr. Jonathan,
who he accused of failing to secure the lives
and property of the citizenry.
But responding, Mr. Jonathan said the Kano
State governor is an incompetent and clueless
presidential aspirant.
“The point must be made very clearly that the
kind of comment Governor Kwankwaso made
at an occasion where he was doing a fund
raiser for his gamble to become the
presidential candidate of the APC shows that
he is a very incompetent and a clues
presidential aspirant,” said Mr. Abati.
“One would have expected that at an occasion
where he was raising funds to promote his
gamble to become the presidential flag bearer
of the APC, he would project himself as a man
who has a vision and an agenda for moving
Nigeria forward.
“Instead, what he has done at every turn in
this his new found gamble and hallucinatory
ambition to become the president of Nigeria is
to rundown President Jonathan at every
opportunity.”
The president noted that Mr. Kwankwaso is
one aspirant who believes that by pulling him
down, the governor can rise.
Mr. Jonathan drew attention to how Mr.
Kwankwaso poured invectives on the
presidency when he declared for the
presidential ticket of the APC and again at the
campaign fund raising, saying the actions
were unfortunate.
The president continued, “I think it is a
tragicomedy because at every point he goes
into this his gamble to become a presidential
candidate of the APC, the only thing he does is
complain about President Jonathan, instead of
using the opportunity to talk about what he
wants to do for Nigerians.
“It is obvious that he is clueless and an
incompetent presidential aspirant and is not
in a position to talk about incompetence. He is
even the one that is incompetent and that is
masked gross paranoia. He is complaining that
President Jonathan is not doing enough to
check insurgency and we are inviting
countries that we have helped before to come
and help us.”
Mr. Abati explained that the Federal
Government did not reach out to its
neighbours in the fight against insurgency
out of desperation.
Rather, as a global threat, he said the only
way to tackle terrorism is for countries to
work together and exchange intelligence.
He, therefore, described Mr. Kwankwaso’s
diatribe as counterproductive and
unreasonable, saying any aspirant playing
politics with insurgency lacked the basic
understanding of the complexity of the
problem.
“Any intelligent aspirant will see very clearly
that insurgency affects all of us and what is
required is for all Nigerians to walk together.
Governor Kwankwaso wants to be the
president of Nigeria in his dreams,” Mr.
Jonathan said.
“He doesn’t understand the nature of our
security challenge and I think it is most
unfortunate that a person of such low level of
understanding can seek the office of the
president.”
On the claim that some top PDP members will
soon defect to the APC, Mr. Jonathan said the
Kano State governor is trapped in a drivel and
should not be taken seriously.
While confirming his status as the sole
presidential candidate of the PDP, having
been endorsed by party members at all levels,
Mr. Jonathan expressed confidence that he
will emerge not only at the party’s
convention, but also during the 2015 polls.
At the time he would again emerge as
president, Mr. Abati noted that the garrulous
APC aspirant will be nowhere to be found
given the way he has so confidently and
arrogantly advertised his ignorance.
“His ambition at every point ends up as a
tragicomedy and the clearest illustration of
the tragicomic nature is to gamble in lies. Mr.
Kwankwaso doesn’t even understand what
insurgency is all about or what terrorism is all
about.
“He makes it seems as if the terrorism in
Nigeria is a fault of Mr. Jonathan and
everything must be heaped on his head,” the
president said.
Premium times.
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