The rivalry between the North and Niger Delta campaigners for President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election in 2015 became deeper yesterday when Farouk Adamu Aliyu, a former House of Representatives member, boasted that the Northeners will remove the President through their powerful voting strength and not by using guns.
“We in the north will take over from Jonathan through the ballot box and not through the barrels of the gun as some elements threatened recently. By the grace of God, we shall take over from him.
We call on President Jonathan to dissociate himself from those who are beating the drums of war and to call them to order so as not to truncate the democratic governance in Nigeria, which all Nigerians fought for.
We know that it is only the President of a country that can boast that nobody can arrest him and nothing happens. But now, some people are threatening the law enforcement agencies and the National Assembly to dare arrest them and see what they will do without the President saying anything.
As of today, we are all Nigerians and the President has the responsibility to treat us as Nigerians. But we are worried that he has kept mute over those planning genocide, hatred and destruction of lives and property because of their selfish interest,” he said.
“We in the north believe that the oil in Bayelsa or Delta belong to us in Jigawa or any other state in the north. We shall therefore do anything humanly possible to defend that our oil in Bayelsa or anywhere else in this country.
As long as we remain as Nigerians, we shall stake claim to the oil resources just as other Nigerians are benefitting from the mineral resources found in Jigawa or Sokoto State,” he added.
