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Jonathan Hits Back At Kwankwaso

Published

10 years ago

June 14, 2014

President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday responded to the Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso’s allegation that the President wants to assassinate him.
The response which was conveyed through two ministers suspected to be acting on behalf of the President, criticized Kwankwaso in separate statements issued in Abuja by Labaran Maku, the Minister of Information as well as the Minister of Police Affairs, Abdul Jelili Adesiyan.
The ministers described the governor as being desperate and paranoid; pointing out that his allegation against Jonathan was the peak of irresponsibility and an indication of a failed governor.
Maku, challenged the governor to explain to the people of Kano the role him and the All Progressives Congress played in the emergence of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the Emir of Kano, instead of dragging the President to it.
It would be recalled that Kwankwaso on Wednesday accused the President of being responsible for the conflicts that trialed the appointment of the new Emir, Sanusi. He also stated that the President should be held responsible for whatever happens to him, his family or the people of the state
According to the statement issued on behalf of the information minister by his Chief Press Secretary, Joseph Mutah, he said Kwankwaso was trying to smear the image of the president and the Federal Government.
“It is a known fact that the appointment of traditional rulers is within the purview of state governments and it is surprising why Kwankwaso has chosen to drag the name of the President into the succession crisis rocking the Kano Emirate.
“Instead of throwing tantrums and casting aspersions on imaginary enemies, Kwankwaso should face the people of Kano and explain to them the role he and APC leaders played in the imbroglio.
Minister of Information, Labaran Maku
“The Police in Kano have offered explanations why officers and men were deployed to guard the palace of the emir, yet Governor Kwankwaso decided to further his unbridled campaign of blackmail against the President and the Federal Government.
“The recent outbursts of Kwankwaso have lent credence to observations in some quarters that the governor is now afraid of his own shadow as the people of Kano become increasingly impatient with his years of one-man rule under which he imposes his will on the state in total disregard to the wishes of the people” Maku said.
However, Kwankwaso, on his Twitter page on Wednesday, insisted that he followed the same procedure which Ibrahim Dankwambo, the Gombe State governor adopted in appointing the new Emir of Gombe, and questioned why the President should cause crisis in his state, as well as accused him of plotting an agenda which is not good for this country. He urged the Jonathan-led administration to focus its attention on the security challenges bedeviling the country and not him.
Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso
Maku went further to say that: “After the recent denial of freedom of choice for the people of Kano by imposing local government chairmen and councillors on them, he then took on the late Kano monarch shortly before his demise.
“Governor Kwankwaso, as is well known to the public, then went on a highly politicised selection process, turning the ascension to the throne of Kano into a partisan political enterprise during which prominent All Progressives Congress leaders and some governors moved to Kano reportedly to influence the outcome.
“The result is the outpouring of anger and protests in the ancient city of Kano with the unfortunate breakdown of law and order.
“Governor Kwankwaso is therefore singularly responsible for the violence in his state. The selection of successors to other traditional institutions in other parts of the North in recent years has not witnessed the kind of public anger and protests and violence that greeted the exercise conducted by Kwankwaso at the Government House in Kano.