Ex-militants to ACF: Warn Atiku to Leave Jonathan Alone

Atiku Abubakar

• Watch your utterances, northern group cautions

Ernest Chinwo   and Aisha Wakaso 

Former militant leaders in the Niger Delta have called on the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) to warn former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, to leave President Goodluck Jonathan alone to concentrate on governance.

The warning came as leaders of the Coalition of Northern States Political Parties equally warned the militants to be careful with their utterances and threats against some of its leaders, saying the region has the capacity to react commensurably to threats issued on some of the political leaders in the region.

The former militants reiterated their stand that Atiku was barred from the Niger Delta region until he stopped his attack on Jonathan’s bid for re-election in 2015.

Leader of the Leadership, Peace and Cultural Development Initiative, a group of ex-militant leaders, Reuben Wilson, was reacting to the stand of the ACF over the threat of the former agitators to bar Atiku from the Niger Delta region.

The ACF had demanded that the threat be withdrawn as nobody had the right to stop their son from visiting any part of the country.

Reacting to the stance of the ACF yesterday in Port Harcourt, Wilson said as long as Atiku was not relenting in the fight to chase Jonathan out of office in 2015, he would not know peace, neither would the security of his investments in the region.

According to him, “If the ACF so likes Atiku, let them advise him and other power hungry northern elements to leave Jonathan alone.

“Jonathan has been in office for just two years and they have done everything possible to make sure he does not concentrate on development issues. The ACF should not provoke us. Where were they when their son, Muhammadu Buhari, promised hell for Jonathan?

“All this while that the Boko Haram warlords have been killing and maiming our people in the North, where was the ACF? Why have they not called Kawu Baraje, and Atiku to order? Why can’t they talk to their own children to leave Jonathan alone?
“The likes of Atiku may be working hard to divide this country. The ACF may have closed their eyes to the devilish acts of their Boko Haram brothers. But this country will remain together and Jonathan will be re-elected in 2015.

“If there are people that should be angry, it should be the former freedom fighters, who have not benefited from the federal government, especially as the lifeline which the late President, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua promised us before we decided to surrender our arms. For the umpteenth time, we are, therefore, reminding the federal government of our lifeline. It is an empowerment scheme that the federal government promised about three years ago and it has to be fulfilled.

“The lifeline has not come. We have pleaded and pleaded with the federal government on this. On many occasions, the amnesty office has begged us to remain patient and calm and we have shown maturity and have continued to wait, believing that the president will be mindful to implement the amnesty agreement he inherited.

“But your Boko Haram people have not allowed Jonathan to remain focused. Your northern brothers, who believe that the presidency is their birthright are doing all they can to distract him and they expect us to keep quiet. When the North held sway for over three decades, they had the support of the South.”

Wilson also dismissed a statement said to be released by the Movement for the Emancipation or the Niger Delta (MEND) castigating the ex-militants for declaring Atiku persona non grata in the region.

He said the name, Jomo Gbomo, was a pseudo name they used while in the creeks and challenged him to come out publicly for people to see him.

Wilson said Jomo Gbomo was not in existence as a human being and could not have spoken against their stance on the political developments in the country, especially on the decision to bar Atiku from visiting any part of the Niger Delta.

He said instead of continuously insulting and condemning the president, the northern politicians should be bold enough to tell Nigerians what they consider to be the sins of the president.

Meanwhile, the northern coalition, in a statement signed by its Coordinator, Alhaji Alfa Mohammed, and made available to THISDAY in Minna yesterday, called on the militants to withdraw their threats and insults against the leaders within seven days, adding that those leaders they were threatening were courageous and illustrious leaders from the region.

The coordinator specifically listed Atiku and the six break-away Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors from the region that joined the newly formed PDP.

It reasoned that though the crisis currently rocking the ruling PDP was purely a party affair, members of the coalition would not sit by and watch while the militants threaten, blackmail and rubbish its courageous and illustrious leaders from the region with impunity and without uttering a word.

According to the statement, "Although, the issues at stake are purely a PDP affair, we can't fold our hands and be watching some uncultured militant groups threaten, rubbish and blackmail our courageous and illustrious leaders. This is because, the North does not lack the capacity to react commensurably to any action the militants may take against the northern leaders."

The coalition called on the leaders of the South-south geo-political zone to call the militants to order, in order not to pitch the two regions against each other which it noted would not be in the interest of the whole country.