#BringBackOurGirls group planning to unseat Jonathan – Presidency For the umpteenth time, the Presidency on Thursday took a swipe at the #BringBackOurGirls coalition, accusing its members of secretly planning to remove President Goodluck Jonathan from office. The Presidency alleged that key promoters of the group openly identified with a former military head-of-state, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, during his formal declaration of his intention to contest the 2015 presidential election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress in Abuja on Wednesday. Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, stated that coordinators of the coalition, including its co-founder, Hadiza Bala-Usman, and former member of the House of Representatives, Dino Melaye, played “key roles” at the Buhari presidential declaration. In a series of messages on his Twitter page, Abati explained that Jonathan was not deterred by the plot of the members of the #BringBackOurGirls group, adding that the President remained committed to efforts aimed at rescuing the abducted Chibok girls. The presidential adviser lamented that Jonathan had over the last five months that the group was formed being on the receiving end of unfair “bashing” from the #BringBackOurGirls campaigners. “Our longstanding view of the BBOG movement’s hidden agenda to unseat the Jonathan administration received full justification yesterday (Wednesday). “Roles played by Dino Melaye and the presence of the BBOG’s initiator, Hadiza Bala-Usman, at Buhari’s declaration are proof of their true aim of politicising the agony of the Chibok girls and their families. “Special recognition for Bala-Usman, for work well done! APC chieftains are BBOG activists. This is partisan interest masquerading as altruism. Now, the mask is off! “This is now fully apparent, the true agenda and prime movers of BBOG movement. Patriotic Nigerians should open their eyes and reject the movement’s political partisanship and unjustifiable Jonathan bashing. “Politicising collective agony to score cheap political points; how sad. President Jonathan remains fully committed to doing all possible to bring back our girls. He will not be deterred by political hustlers and agents provocateurs,” Abati stated. But co-coordinator of the #BringBackOurGirls group, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, distanced herself from partisan politics, claiming that she belonged to neither the ruling Peoples Democratic Party nor the APC. Writing on Twitter, she argued that no card-carrying members of the leading political parties contributes to the decision making process of the group which she claimed to chair. She, however, admitted that the co-founder of the group, Bala-Usman, was “a known member of APC,” while quickly adding that it was her “fundamental human right” to have political affiliations. “Hadiza Bala Usman is a known member of APC. Maryam Uwais is not a politician, Saudatu Mhadi is not a politician and I am not. So what’s that? “I am neither covertly nor overtly a member of APC, PDP or any other political party. It is false and wrong to say that the #BringBackOurGirls group is led by members of the APC. “Never has there been any speck of political party consideration in anything that the strategic team of the #BringBackOurGirls group that I chair does. “Never have we allowed members’ political affiliation (their fundamental right) to be a part of our decisions within the movement. Never! “Every time APC or PDP members make statements on Chibok girls to gain political mileage, they demonstrate the callousness of our elite,” Ezekwesili wrote on her Twitter page. The former education minister vowed to remain at the forefront of the group’s campaign, aimed at mounting pressure on the Federal Government to secure a safe release of the Chibok girls. In a veiled response to presidential aides who have taken to social media to tongue-lash members of the group, Ezekwesili advised them to stop acting “foolishly on the ground or on Twitter.” According to her, no amount of provocation from any end would make her give up on the Chibok girls’ cause. “A child that says his mom will not sleep would have to also stay awake. For as long as our girls are left in the wild, we would continue to stand and demand their rescue. “My vow which I constantly renew is to the girls and God and on this I stand. When US citizens march to the White House on a protest, no American public official acts foolishly on the ground or on Twitter. How can?” Ezekwesili added
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 11:09:06 +0000
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