He also denied the claim by Governor
Babangida Aliyu of Niger State that he signed an agreement with some
Peoples Democratic Party governors for only one term in office. He
challenged anybody with a copy of such agreement to produce it.
Jonathan was fielding questions from a panel of journalists during the Presidential Media Chat in Abuja on Sunday.
He answered questions ranging from politics and education to security, economy and power.
When pressed to be specific on whether
he would contest the 2015 election, the President insisted that it was
too early to make his intention known adding that doing so would violate
the Electoral Act which stipulates the time frame within which
politicians can declare their interests.
The President, however, said the fact
that he had not declared his position did not mean that those who were
interested in the seat could not go ahead and start working.
Jonathan said, “There was no agreement
with anybody that I will serve for only one term. If I had signed any
agreement with anybody, they would have shown you the agreement.
“I did not say that I will not contest
in 2015. In Addis Ababa, that was when I advocated single term of seven
years. My argument was that to be more productive, maybe we should
consider single term of seven years.
“ I said if Nigerians agree to that, I
may not be involved. I did not say I will contest or not. Those who said
I have signed an agreement, they should show the agreement.”
The President blamed past governments
for the continuous campaign of violence being carried out by members of
the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram.
He said the needless killings would have been avoided if the menace of the sect was curbed from the beginning.
“Boko Haram did not start today. I was
Vice-President in 2009 when (Mohammed) Yusuf (Boko Haram leader) was
killed. People talk about Boko Haram as if Jonathan caused it. It
started before 2009 but because it was not handled well, it has grown
into a cancer and it has become terrible. If something happened and you
don’t take the right action, it will continue. But I can assure
Nigerians that it will be brought under control,” he added.
When asked whether Boko Haram leader,
Abubakar Shekau, was truly dead, the President replied, “I don’t know
whether he is dead or alive. I don’t know him and I have not seen him
before.”
The President, who regretted the
protracted strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities, described the action as unfortunate. He added that it had
been politicised.
He called on the university lecturers
to consider the plight of their students and the sincerity of government
and call off the strike.
The President, however, said it was
wrong for ASUU to go on strike because of the state of infrastructure in
universities when it was his government that initiated inventory of
infrastructure in the institutions and returned a verdict that something
drastic must be done.
He said, “ASUU strike is very
unfortunate. There is no time a government has taken inventory of
properties in schools but we set up a technical team that visited all
universities. When the report was presented, I said it must be presented
to all governors during NEC.
“We said things must change but it can’t
be done overnight. For us to do that inventory shows that we are
committed. For ASUU to go on strike for infrastructure is not fair. We
are doing inventory for polytechnics and colleges of education too and
they are not being done for fun.
“We expect ASUU to work with us. It is
unfortunate that the strike lasts this long because we have witnessed
strikes before and most of them are called off when government don’t
even do up to what we have done.
“Politics have fallen into so many things. We may be seeing something different.”
Jonathan faulted those who have been describing the country as broke or bankrupt, saying that also smark of unhealthy politics.
“People play politics with serious
issues. How can you describe the country as bankrupt? What parameters
did they use? Anybody that says Nigeria is broke is playing politics
and talking out of ignorance,” he declared.
On the power sector, Jonathan promised
that before the end of the first quarter of next year, power would be
stable in the country.
He also promised that his administration was building security architecture to tackle oil theft.
While admitting that corruption was
prevalence in the country, Jonathan however said the menace was not the
nation’s number one problem.
He said, “We did an in-house
investigation and we are still doing it now. I am not saying there is no
corruption in the oil sector but the way people are looking at it may
not be the real thing. Recently, we have asked some auditors to look at
the books again.”by Olalekan Adetayo and Ihuoma Chiedozie
CULLED FROM PUNCH NEWSPAPER
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