The All Progressives Congress, APC, has lampooned President Goodluck Jonathan for dedicating his broadcast to the nation on Wednesday night to the centenary celebrations instead of the massacre of over 40 students of the Federal Government College in Yobe State, which the party said was a national tragedy.
In a statement on Thursday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, APC argued that by that singular act, Jonathan sent a wrong message to the world on the value the Nigerian government placed on the lives of the nation’s children.
The party wondered what was so important about the centenary celebrations that it would be “elevated over and above what, in any nation, would be considered a monumental tragedy”, describing the president’s nationwide broadcast as insensitive, misplaced and an embarrassment to the nation.
According to Mohammed, “Even as the nation is still counting the death toll from Monday night’s senseless and gruesome murder of our children, and the ceaseless killings of innocent civilians before that, the President has already switched into a celebratory mood, dwelling on the money-wasting centenary-celebrations instead of leading a clearly distraught nation in mourning.
“Nothing better illustrates the fact that the President showed more concern about the centenary celebrations than the calamity that befell the nation than the mention, in only about three paragraphs, of the tragedy in a speech that spanned over 40 paragraphs.
“This is very sad indeed, considering that President Jonathan is the head of a government that has failed woefully in ensuring the welfare and security of Nigerians, especially those of our children, which is the very reason for the existence of any government”.
The party said now that the President had “goofed again”, he should quickly make amends by visiting the scene of the tragedy to empathise with the families of the victims as well as the government and people of the state.