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President Goodluck
Jonathan did not jump into a hasty conclusion when he declared that the
members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND)
were not responsible for the October 1 bomb blast in Abuja.

His campaign
outfit, Goodluck/Sambo Campaign organization, made this affirmation in
a statement sent to media organisations last night.

The organisation,
in the statement signed by its spokesperson, Sully Abu, said the
president merely wanted to reassure Nigerians that the perpetrators
would be found.

“For those who
insist that there was a rush to judgment on the part of the President
on this matter, it bears restating that what he sought to do was to
reassure Nigerians that the perpetrators will be found, a process which
could be hampered by a rather casual attribution of the violence to
MEND,” the group said.

“As President and
Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, it is his bounden duty to speak
out in times of danger in order to reassure the populace of the
government’s commitment to their safety and wellbeing. This is the
practice wherever you have a responsible government that is committed
to the welfare of its people.”

No absolution for MEND

The organisation
explained that during his visit to the National Hospital to commiserate
with victims of the bombing, the president said the terrorist act
should not merely be ascribed to MEND and that nobody should use the
name of any organisation to cover up a heinous crime. It added that “
He (president) was not absolving MEND or any other group of blame or
culpability.” It recalled that the first time the president spoke on
the bombings was at the ECOWAS parliament in Abuja, adding that he had
pointed out that a heinous crime had been committed against the country
and innocent lives had been lost.

“He thus considered
it a gratuitous insult for anyone to claim that it was done by MEND, or
had anything to do with the Niger Delta. This is even more so, he said,
since government was in touch with the leadership of MEND (all of whom
had renounced violence), and they all agree that the organisation had
nothing to do with the blasts.

“The President
sought to put the correct emphasis on the urgent need to get to the
bottom of that sordid act of terror and to unearth the perpetrators,
because after all, anyone can hide under the umbrella of MEND or any
other organisation or body for that matter to cover up acts of
malfeasance.”

Stating that it
stands by Mr Jonathan, the organisation also urged him not to be swayed
by the protests in certain quarters, allegedly orchestrated to divert
and confuse the real issue.

The organization
also said that it is high time Nigeria did away with the rather lazy
approach of explaining away criminal activity by blaming armed robbers
or assassins as if such categorization takes away from the severity of
the offence.

“Such an approach
has somehow affected the investigation of some high profile murders
committed in this country in recent memory including the murder of such
prominent citizens as the late Dele Giwa, Alfred Rewane, Bola Ige,
Marshal Harry and A. K. Dikibo, amongst others,” it noted.

Okah allegations

The president’s
campaign organisation also criticised Henry Okah over his allegation
that the Presidency asked him to implicate the north and insisted that
the MEND chief must be brought to justice if he is found guilty.

“No amount of
obfuscation and diversionary tactics,” it said “will prevent the full
investigation of that crime against our fatherland on October 1.”

Meanwhile, a
faction of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) has warned that
the country could slide into a failed state if nothing is done to
strengthen its unity.

The national chairman of the faction, Victor Umeh, gave the warning while speaking with newsmen in Abuja on the bomb attack.

He described as
“unnecessary” the killing of Nigerians during the independence
celebration going by the level of pain and poverty in the country.

“There is no
justification for such criminal act. If we begin to kill ourselves, we
open ourselves into a collapse state. We should not import terrorism
into Nigeria,” Mr Umeh said.

“The Federal Government should not gamble with this, if they have
some information, it should be use to apprehend those behind the acts,
I don’t see how somebody who wants to serve Nigeria should be
desperate, nobody takes leadership by force, it is only the military
that takes leadership by force, and it is no more fashionable across
the world.”