Tight security as Jonathan addresses N/E PDP rally

From Ahmed Kaigama,Bauchi

President Goodluck Jonathan addressed the North East grand rally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under tight security in Bauchi just as Jonathan blamed Northeast governors for insurgency.

All the access roads inside Bauchi metropolis have been blocked with heavily armed security personnel, making access to the venue at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium difficult.

Security in and around Bauchi ahead and during the rally was very tight with armed security men deployed in many parts of the city.

Many roads were blocked and party supporters had a tough time accessing Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium, venue of the rally on account of the tight security as some was molested by the security men.

President Goodluck Jonathan shifted the blame for the raging insurgency in the Northeast on the governors in the zone saying that, the governors should take responsibility for the reign of terror imposed by members of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram on Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States.

Jonathan, who spoke at the Northeast zonal rally of the PDP in Bauchi, said it was a shame for the governors to shift the blame for the insecurity on the Federal Government.

“It is shameful for a governor who has stayed in power in his state for up to six years or more to come to me and talk about bad leadership when you have youth in your state, more than half of whom have not attended primary school and you are doing nothing about it.

“State Governors should be ashamed when our children do not go to primary and secondary schools and they decide to carry arms.

“We had insecurity challenges in Bayelsa when I was deputy governor and later governor and we handled them. It is not the duty of the Federal Government to send children to Primary and Secondary schools but it is the constitutional right of the Federal Government to make sure children attend tertiary institutions which we have done.

“How can you allow hungry youths to just go out and start killing people? Bayelsa was the first state in Nigeria that witnessed commercial kidnapping and we tackled it,” he said.

He described the situation as very sad but pledged that the federal government would do its best to redress the situation.

Other speakers who spoke at the rally acknowledged the insecurity in the region.

The National Chairman of the PDP, Adamu Muazu, called on aspirants in the party to go back to their villages and seek the people’s mandate, stressing that there is no God Father in PDP today.