Why I traveled to Brazil — Jonathan

Why I traveled to Brazil — Jonathan

Responding to public criticism on his travel to Brazil despite the troubles in Kaduna and Yobe, he said the government would not allow the threats from the Islamic militant group to cripple the machinery of government.

“It would have sent a negative signal to the international community, and the Boko Haram sect would have been seen to have achieved their aim of strangulating the government.

“The aim of terrorists all over the world is to strangulate government and ensure that government does not function. If they know I did not travel because of their activities, they would rejoice. If I do not travel because of Boko Haram activities, why should foreigners want to travel to Nigeria? My inability to travel would send a negative signal to the international community,” he added.

He thus vowed that the activities of the sect would not stop government functionaries from moving around or from doing their work, adding that it is committed to ensuring that all the arms of government keep faith with their various international commitments.

“Boko Haram can not bring us to our knees, this government must keep faith with our international business allies, notwithstanding the threat of the sect. We must do all in our powers to stop them and we must stop them.”

Boko Haram aiming to destabilize my government

Jonathan further stated that the aim of the Boko Haram sect is to destabilize the government, saying that the various attacks on churches are aimed at instigating religious violence.

He also alleged that if Christians do not retaliate, the sect would adopt a change of strategy by attacking mosques, in a bid to achieve their aim. However, he promised that his government will surely bring the Boko Haram menace to an end.

“Boko Haram aims to destabilize the government. By attacking the churches, they hope that Christians will retaliate against the Muslims.  If the Christians fail to retaliate, the same sect will start attacking mosques, hoping the Muslims will attack the Christians.”

He said that the government is ready to dialogue with the sect, but that the only problem was that the sect is faceless  and the government cannot dialogue with a faceless body or group.

Asset Declaration

For the first time the President responded to critics on his failure to publicly declare his assets as he did when he was Vice-President.  He explained that while he was Vice-President he disagreed with former President Yar‘adua on the principle of public declaration of assets saying that it was an unnecessary step. Describing it as an anomalous action, Jonathan said that he told the late President that they should not start something that they could not control saying that they could not as well compel all other senior officials of government to follow their action.

He, however, confessed that he had to declare his assets publicly then because he was under President Yar‘adua, but affirmed that no one can now compel or intimidate him to do so, saying that would not “improve the economy, would not stop the Boko Haram menace and would not advance governance in any way.”

“When I was Vice President, I declared my assets, because the President then did. In any case, between the time when I was Vice President and President was just a few months, so what would I have acquired within that short time?”

He however, stated that he has nothing to hide and could even decide to declare tomorrow, if he so wishes.

Speaking on the fight against corruption, he defended the government’s decision to sack the former boss of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mrs. Farida Waziri, saying: “When I give people work and assignment, I give them time and the latitude to do the job. It is when they are not performing that I take action. Everybody likes the new boss, Lamorde, people like his mode of operation and I do too.”

He, however, noted the procedural difficulties in bringing corrupt persons to book. “To arrange a case file to prosecute corrupt criminals is difficult and it would be wrong to convict an innocent person. It is better for nine criminals to go scot-free than to convict one innocent person.”

He urged the public to allow both Lamorde and the Acting Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC to do their job.