THEY ARE ATTACKING OUR SUPPORTERS IN THE NORTH - JONATHAN

The Presidency has alleged that staunch supporters of President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2015 re-election bid are facing persecution and intimidation in the northern part of the country.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, who stated this, noted that his office in the last few days had received reports of members of the opposition unleashing terror on those who dared to support the ruling Peoples Democratic Party.
Abati, while flaying the alleged “desperation” of the opposition, in a Facebook post, argued that the victimisation of Jonathan’s supporters in the north would not “distract” the President from continuing with his “Transformation Agenda.”
The presidential spokesman said, “Why this desperation? There are several verified reports of the many Goodluck Jonathan supporters being persecuted, harassed, intimidated and assaulted for their Pro-GEJ convictions, especially in the North.
“It shouldn’t matter now who you support. Violence is not part of this game of people and numbers. Please join this cause and say no to violence. We will not get distracted though. Transformation continues.”
The Presidency also dismissed the rising online profile of the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) describing it as immaterial in the build up to the 2015 general elections.
Buhari registered his presence on Twitter on December 15, garnering more than 14,000 followers in six hours; a record which surpassed the feat recorded by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, when he joined Twitter on December 31, 2013.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, stated that Jonathan would win the presidential election without an overwhelming support from the social media.
According to Okupe, Buhari’s Twitter followership, which stood at over 50, 000 on Sunday would not save him from defeat in the February 2015 poll.
A former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Okupe argued, received such an online support ahead of the governorship election in the state, but failed woefully at the poll.
“Facebook could not save Fayemi; and Osun State Governor, Ogbeni (Rauf Aregbesola) nearly ‘crashed’ in spite of the fact that he had Twitter support.
“The Nigerian population is over 170 million. The population of Nigerians on Twitter is 4.5 million people. My friends, the real people that God listen to are not here (on Twitter).
“President Goodluck Jonathan would win with or without social media. They have the social media, but GEJ has got the people,” Okupe said on Twitter.
However, some online commentators described the Presidency’s allegation that pro-Jonathan’s supporters were under attack in the north as tantamount to raising a “false alarm.”
A respondent, Olufemi Alonge, argued that on the contrary, the governors in the PDP-controlled states in the north were the ones intimidating APC supporters in their respective domains.
“This is a false alarm from Abati. We all know that the PDP governors in the north are the ones harassing and intimidating APC supporters by using the police and soldiers to illegally arrest and detain them,” Alonge alleged in a Facebook post.
For Umoru Abdulkadir, it was unfair for the Presidency to label APC members as “angry people.” According to Abdulkadir, the alleged anger unleashed by some Nigerians on pro-Jonathan supporters might be in connection with the way the President was running the affairs of the country.
“It is only a fool that will beat a child and expect that child not to cry. Many northern youth, women and elderly have been wiped off the surface of the earth under the watchful eyes of this government.
“More than 200 Chibok girls are still not rescued and many of them have become refugees in their own fatherland and you expect such a people to give you (Jonathan) a warm reception.
“The only thing that comes to their minds about this government is grief and sorrow, because the government has failed to secure their lives and property. I thought Dr. Reuben Abati should have known this,” Abdulkadir stated on Facebook.
Meanwhile, Buhari’s running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has explained that the change Nigerians seek border on provision of jobs, stable power, security and a vibrant economy.
“The power to change is in all of us. The journey to reclaim Nigeria and put us on the path of greatness begins with all of us. Together, we will change our fortunes for good,” Osinbajo tweeted.
Director of Media and Communications, Buhari Campaign Organisation, Mr. Dele Alake, stated that Buhari shared the burden and anxiety of Nigerians rendered “poor” by successive PDP administrations.
“Let us ask them: is Nigeria better today than six years ago?” Alake wrote in a message on his Twitter page.