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President
Goodluck Jonathan yesterday claimed his utterance in which he
reportedly referred to leaders of the south-west region of the country
as rascals was ‘grossly misunderstood.’ He however said that the region
must be ruled by “those who have what it takes.” The president had been
quoted at a presidential campaign rally in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital
last week, to have said that “the entire South-West is too important,
too sophisticated and too educated to be in the hands of rascals.” The
statement has been interpreted as an indirect reference to the
opposition party, the Action Congress Of Nigeria (ACN) which holds sway
over the region. Reacting to the statement, the Lagos State governor
Babatunde Raji Fashola cautioned the president saying that leaders
should refrain from using words that are offensive.

Choosing his
Facebook wall to clarify his statement, Mr Jonathan said that
“unreliable or mischievous behaviours or notions ought not to be
acceptable in any part of our body politic especially not in the
south-west where the population has had the privilege of a head start in
education compared to other parts of the country.” Noting that the
region is of critical significance to the economic and political
advancement of the country, he said, “it is unhelpful to public
discourse if we constantly twist words beyond intended meaning.” He
condemned the emphasis on the latter part of his sentence which he
claims “typifies the general tendency to dwell on the negative which we
must, as a country, refrain from”.

“My qualification of
the West as highly educated and sophisticated was easily dispensed
with, while the fact that we should not expose such civilized and
educated populace to rascality was played more upon, with emphasis on
the rascality” he adds.

Mr Jonathan said
that the foundation of the nation’s independence movement burgeoned from
the discussions which emanated from what he called the “Ibadan School
of thought” as the liberal Arts faculty of the then University College
Ibadan was then known.

He insisted that the
western region remains a very sophisticated and educated part of the
country, unique in its unequivocal stand for justice and equity and adds
that as he and Vice-President Namadi Sambo moves around the country on
his campaign train, they will continue to respect and pay tribute to the
hard work and patience of all Nigerians. “Our promise of a significant
turnaround in the way our country operates and is governed is an article
of faith.”

Support for President

Two civil society
groups; the Movement for Democratic Sustainability and Media for Ethnic
Equality have both welcomed the presidents explanation and called on
Nigerians and particularly the south west to be weary of people who were
“ exploiting” the statement by the President to score cheap political
point.

The groups claim the president further demonstrated his
responsiveness as a leader with the explanation and that the President
has taken the dialogue above the wish of those who seek to profit from
such calculated acts of sheer mischief in order to paint the Presidency
in a bad light. Iyiola Johnson, publicity secretary of the media for
ethnic equality praised the President for his “humility and inner
strength”.