Opposition Congress for Progressive Change, CPC has slammed President Jonathan for holding the 2012 independence day anniversary “celebration within the high walled perimeter of the State House in Abuja.”
In a statement by its publicity secretary Rotimi Fashakin, CPC said “the Nigerian President, holed up in a fortress, while the vast majority of Nigeria citizens are daily exposed to insecurity (through the ineptitude of his regime), has further alienated himself from the people by spurning their participation in National celebration.
“Undoubtedly, it is implausible for the leader of a Nation to be lacking in courage and honour as the Nigerian President has shown in the last two years. The hallmark of leadership is to lead. When a leader abdicates his responsibility in deftly guiding a people (in times of national adversity) and prefers to deal in cowardice, he has deviated from the creed that sustains the fidelity of his office and is therefore unworthy of commanding followership. We affirm that the
weakened position of the Nigerian President in tackling the myriad of security challenges assailing the Nation readily show his continued incompetence in bringing succor to the Nigerian people. We are of the opinion that, in the last two years, the aloofness of the President is
a metaphor of the unenviable drift of the Nation like a rudderless ship!”he added.
Read the full text of CPC statement below:
President Jonathan and the gaffe of independence celebrations.
The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) has observed that, in the last two years, the Jonathan-led Federal Government has consistently done the independence celebration within the high walled perimeter of the State House in Abuja. Ever since the union Jack was lowered and
replaced with the green-white-green flag (the emblem of our freedom and sovereignty) on 1st October, 1960, the independence anniversary had always been celebrated in a manner to involve the participation of the broad spectrum of the Nigerian people. From Race Course, Onikan,
Lagos (later changed to Tafawa Balewa Square) where the first celebration took place to Eagle Square in Abuja (when the seat of Government moved to Abuja), school children and workers of all grades of the Nation’s labour force, have always been incorporated in the celebration of Nigeria’s freedom from British imperialism.
The growing insecurity in the land, occasioned by the tendentious spate of insurgency (which is the inexorable consequence of the ruling PDP’s delusional politics), has been blamed for the shift of the venue of the yearly anniversary celebration. This, we view as very untenable
and symptomatic of leadership deficit. It is our belief that, rather than showing timidity in changing a national tradition because of a security challenge, the Jonathan regime has missed a vital opportunity in galvanizing the support of the citizenry in confronting a common
National malady. We recall that, in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist assault on the United States of America, the demeanour of President George Bush (couched in courage, honour and patriotic defiance) gave the needed succor to the American people to weather the
storm of that National challenge.
It is difficult to imagine that the Nigerian President, holed up in a fortress, while the vast majority of Nigeria citizens are daily exposed to insecurity (through the ineptitude of his regime), has further alienated himself from the people by spurning their participation in National celebration.
Undoubtedly, it is implausible for the leader of a Nation to be lacking in courage and honour as the Nigerian President has shown in the last two years. The hallmark of leadership is to lead. When a leader abdicates his responsibility in deftly guiding a people (in times of national adversity) and prefers to deal in cowardice, he has deviated from the creed that sustains the fidelity of his office and is therefore unworthy of commanding followership. We affirm that the
weakened position of the Nigerian President in tackling the myriad of security challenges assailing the Nation readily show his continued incompetence in bringing succor to the Nigerian people. We are of the opinion that, in the last two years, the aloofness of the President is
a metaphor of the unenviable drift of the Nation like a rudderless ship!
God bless Nigeria.
Rotimi Fashakin (Engr.)
National Publicity Secretary, CPC.
(Thursday, October 04, 2012).
