The 7th edition of the Presidential Media Chat has come to an end. A
burning issue discussed is the missing school girls. President Jonathan
said wherever the
girls are, the military would get them. He said security personnel are
working
round the clock to rescue the girls and also pleaded with parents
and guardians of the missing girls to cooperate with them
to get the girls freed. He said no negotiation has taken place because
no one or group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.
On reports of them being married off, the president said "To who?". He
said the Principal of the school told him that 53 of the girls have
escaped from the kidnappers.
On
people comparing the Niger Delta militants with Boko Haram men, he said
the BH men are faceless and so makes it difficult to even have
discussions with them. He said he first met Niger Delta warlords like
Asari Dokubo in the state house in a meeting called by former Pres.
Olusegun Obasanjo and the militant leaders were there to lay down their
grieviances. He said Boko Haram men are terrorists as their ideology is
different from that of the Niger Delta militants as those ones do not go
about bombing market places and killing people. He said a lot more. Please continue...
On rumours of helicopters dropping food stuff for boko haram
members, he said no one has come out with pictures to authenticate these
claims. He said "One does not need network to take pictures" but no one
has been able to take any picture showing helicopters dropping
foodstuff'.
On why his government
hasn't dared to go to Sambisa Forest where Boko Haram men are believed to be staying, GeJ said “If
I go there or send any of my ministers they will just kill you.”
On the Federal Governments directive of schools
and Government offices to shut down during the World Economic Forum
Africa which is to hold from Wednesday 7th to Friday 9th, he said the move was
needful so as to control free flow of traffic. He said Nigeria is not
the first place to do such and that when he was in Netherland for the
Nuclear summit, some institutions were shut down during the course of
the summit. He said that places like Davos where the World Economic
summit takes place cannot close down institutions because every year the
WEF takes place there and the place has been designed to host the world
yearly. He said private enterprises were not compelled to close down
but are only advised to close down so as to help traffic free flow.
On seeking international help for the security challenges
Nigeria is facing, Pres. Jonathan said he has reached out to Pres. Obama
twice on the matter and security personnel from America were sent down
to Nigeria. He also said he has reached out to the Presidents of
France, China and other neighboring countries such as Cameroon, Ghana
and Benin republic for assistance. On some Northern Governors visit to
the US, he said it is not a Federal Government arrangement. He said he
is always pained whenever he hears any Nigerian passes on as a result of
the madness called Boko Haram.
On the Rebasing figures and unemployment, Pres. Jonathan said
even with the Economy rebasing, Nigerian Government cannot employ
everyone but would only create the best environment for the private sector
to excel. He said it was a good thing for Nigeria to be hosting the WEF
Africa and said according to the Minister of Finance, Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, visitors for the WEF Africa have began to show interest
in investing in Nigeria.
On the alleged missing $20b, Pres Jonathan said its now a
phenomenon for any government in power in Nigeria to record a story of
missing funds. He said with the money being claimed to be missing,
such moneies would no doubt have adverse effect on the economy. He said
if such amount of money is missing, America would know about it and
said nobody should deceive themselves.
On Minister of Petroleum Dieziani Alison Madueke going to
court to stop investigations on the N10b private jet scandal, Pres
Jonathan said he is not aware she's gone to court. He said as a
Minister, she has spent more of her time appearing before the parliament
than doing her job and said it appears there is a case of parliamentary
dictatorship by the members of the house of Representatives. He said
they are all politicians and so would also bring politics into their
activities. He said he does not see Dieziani as being corrupt and so
cannot drop her as a Minister. According to him, there is nothing wrong
in her hiring private jets and that other Ministers and politicians also
hire private jets.
On his declaration to run again, he said he believes that is
not what is important to Nigerians. He said security, food etc are the
things on the minds of Nigerians and also said the PDP which is the
"Champion, one with the cup" is waiting for the opposition to field
their candidates so that the PDP would know who they are up against.
On claims that he said Boko Haram has infiltrated his
cabinet, he said he never made such a comment, and that the way journalists twist words makes one wonder sometimes. He
said what he said was that Boko Haram has infiltrated the Government
which is made up of the Judiciary, Executive and the Parliamentary. He
said he never said they have infiltrated his cabinet which is made up of
the Vice President and the Ministers.
On the strike by Polytechnic lecturers, he said "we are handling it".
On
the recommendations that would come out from the ongoing National
CONFAB, he promised that whatever recommendations from the confab would
not be stopped.
While ending the chat, Pres. Jonathan pleaded with the Parents
and Guardians of the missing Chibok girls to come out with the identities
of the missing girls. He said with the list from WAEC, its obvious
that most of them, about 90% are Christians. He pleaded with the parents
to cooperate with security agents.
Some of the comments he made
* “I don’t know where they are… there is no confirmation of the
location of the schoolgirls, you are a journalist, you know more than
me.”
* "If I exercise 40/50% of my powers, Nigerians would say I am a
dictator. Some African leaders who used only 60 were condemned as
dictators"
* “I assure you that we will
get the girls out but we can only do it with the co-operation of their
parents and guardians.”
* "Over 70% of what they call corruption in Nigeria, is mere common
theft. The word corruption is being abused, it's just mere theft."
* “Even when I’m in church I am monitoring what is
happening. Anytime I get reports of an attack somewhere… my face will
change immediately… my expression will change. It used to happen every
Sunda
* “Anytime I hear of any one Nigerian dies I feel
pained… even if it’s a Boko Haram member – I am their president.”y.”
* “Pakistan terrorists have
been fighting terrorism for over 10 years now so it’s not something that
a 6 months State of Emergency can solve.”
* “The Petroleum Minister has
appeared before the Parliament for over 200 days… in the Nigerian
Parliament you’ll agree with me that there is more politics than work.”
* “People have been confusing
corruption with stealing. If public officers steal money they term it
under corruption….”
* "PDP is the champion. We are the ones holding the belt. We are waiting to see the challenger"
* "The popular Nollywood wasn't captured in the assessment of the economy as Africa's strongest'
* “If Sanusi
hadn’t been suspended he would have come up with a different figure… If
anyone steals $50 billion or $20 billion anywhere America will know,
they will tell you where it is; it is their money.”
