From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to cancel the political rally being planned for him by the Adamawa PDP for Tuesday, saying the President cannot and should not be celebrating when over 200 school girls are missing.
‘’We hope and pray that our daughters are released safely even before Tuesday, April 29, when the rally is to be held; but until then, it is insensitive and indecent for anyone, least of all the President who is the father of the nation, to engage in any celebratory outing under any guise,’’ the party said in a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
It said the President must not repeat the faux pas he committed less than 24 hours after 75 of his compatriots were killed in the Nyanya bombing.
‘’All decent men and women were riled that President Jonathan went dancing at an illegal campaign stop in Kano and popping champagne corks at a birthday celebration in Ibadan when the smoke was yet to clear from the scene of the Nyanya bombing.
‘’The President should not repeat the same mistake, if indeed he considered that to be one. He should see the missing girls as his own daughters and stop forthwith his illegal campaign rallies,’’ APC said.
The party said the ongoing bickering over the site of the rally in Adamawa, close to the scene of the sad abduction of the girls, is distracting from what should be a concerted national effort to find the girls and reunite them safely with their families.
‘’We are not saying the government should shut down. But the President must shut down all celebratory public outings and all political campaigns until our missing daughters are safely found and returned to their homes,’’ it said.
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