THERE are strong indications that the government of the federation may have been alerted to and may soon start taking steps to douse tension caused by the bitter campaigns that preceded the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primary as well as the coming elections.
President Goodluck Jonathan, who won the election and members of his government are reportedly not taking it for granted that all is well in the North with the outcome of the party’s polls, where there are still strong supporters of the zoning of the country’s foremost office between the North and South.
To the aggrieved politicians and religious leaders, mostly from some states in the North, who have intensified their campaign against him, the President is said to have opted for a path to reconciliation.
The anti-Jonathan sentiments reportedly gained momentum soon after former Vice President Atiku Abubakar lost at the January PDP presidential primary in Abuja.
The states where the President is believed to be consulting with the aggrieved politicians and religious leaders are Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi, Kano, Katsina, and a section of Borno State.
A senior government official told The Guardian that the Federal Government is aware of the development, adding that President is doing something about it.
The official said the President did not believe in issues that divide the country. According to him, he (Jonathan) has repeatedly declared that he is the “consensus candidate of Nigeria and not that of the North or South, Christians or Muslims.
“You will recall that the President’s post-victory speech at the PDP primary dwelt on the transformation of Nigeria. The President said he is an agent of change. He is concerned about the issues of good governance, how to take away children from the streets to the classrooms. The President is worried about the plight of the almajiris (street children in the North). They need education, their parents need stable electricity and motorable roads to do business and live well. The President wants our hospitals to work so that the citizens can have access to affordable health services. He wants to reposition the economy so that more Nigerians can be employed. These are the priorities of the President and he believes that Christians and Muslims in Nigeria need them.”
Also at the weekend, PDP Concerned Stakeholders’ Forum (CSHF) for Goodluck Jonathan and Namadi Sambo met at the weekend in Borno State to drum up support for the joint ticket of the President and his deputy where they urged critics of the Nigerian leader to accept the reality and work for a better Nigeria, which Jonathan represents.
Chairman of the forum, Alhaji Ibrahim Shettima said: “We wish to state in no uncertain terms that by Jonathan’s election as PDP’s presidential candidate, Nigerians have clearly demonstrated their deep rejection of the politics of religion, ethnicity and sectional interest in preference for merit and acceptability…and by this gesture Nigerians from the last man and woman have agreed and accepted as settled that it is only President Goodluck Jonathan that can take Nigerians to greater heights.”
And worried by the recurring communal and religious violence in some parts of the country and the capacity of the crises to heighten exasperation in an election year, the Federal Government is also seeking to douse the tension in the states dubbed “flashpoints.”
Minister of Defence, Adetokunbo Kayode, who stated the government’s commitment to tackling security challenges in the identified states, said in Akure, the Ondo State capital at the weend that no stone would be left unturned in the quest to have a secured nation.
Although it is not so loud yet in the streets, The Guardian learnt that the feeling of alienation in the North following the seeming failure of zoning at the PDP presidential primary is being exploited by some politicians with a view to using it for inciting voters.
It was also learnt that unless there is a constructive engagement with aggrieved parties in the affected states, the 2011elections may be unpredictable, a reality to which the government may be waking up to rather slowly.
Already, alarming multi-media messages are spreading fast among influential northerners to the extent that the next election is going to be a contest between “Christianity and Islam,” especially if the veiled claim that it is between “the North and the South” cannot be sustained.
Some mosques have also become avenues for messages spiced with scare-mongering about the potential outcome of the PDP presidential primary in which Atiku did not capture any of the 17 states in the South.
The Guardian also learnt that a message credited to former militant leader Dokubo Asari, a Niger Deltan, to the effect that a certain part of the country would never be allowed to rule Nigeria again is also being investigated.
A minister said last week that this seemingly inciting statement credited to Asari is already of a big concern that will be addressed shortly.
On the way forward, a prominent politician said: “There is need for true reconciliation. They should get Atiku to be part of the campaign structure of the Jonathan/Sambo in a genuine way…Besides, they should get the Ciroma group, Bukola Saraki and Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Aliyu Gusau to be part of the campaign for the PDP.
Kayode, who visited some registration units in Akure before proceeding to his Ikaram-Akoko community in Akoko North West Local Council, expressed regrets at the security challenges associated with the on-going registration exercises.
He said the government was aware that the exercise is in jeopardy in some areas under security threats such as Plateau and a couple of others in the North, saying the security apparatus of government would soon be strengthen in those areas “so that no eligible Nigerian would be prevented under any circumstance to have his name in the voters’ register.”
The minister said: “We see the unfortunate situation in Jos and its environs and we are aware of the threats to peace in other flashpoints but I want to assure you that we are on top of the situation because troops have been deployed and we are getting a minute by minute reports.
“We have also shifted a lot of attention to the Maiduguri axis because the crisis there must not be allowed to escalate beyond control. A special task force has been deployed there too. Government cannot relent on matters of security especially at this period.”
Speaking on threats to the lives of members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) handling the registration process in some parts of the country, the minister urged all Nigerians “to protect them because they are on national service and all of us have a duty to support and protect them.”
Kayode also urged Nigerians to believe in the capacity of the government to tackle the security challenges, adding that “we have the capacity to curtail anything that may want to derail the process of our democracy and we are going to protect life and property during this period of election.”