President Goodluck Jonathan has begged the North, specifically the North-East geo-political zone, to support and vote for him in the presidential election on Saturday.
Jonathan in a letter titled, ‘My dear Arewa brothers and sisters’, which he personally signed, said it would be unfair for anyone to blame him for the Boko Haram menace which resulted in the death of over 15,000 Nigerians.
President Jonathan confessed that his government initially underestimated the menace and that was why the terrorists were able to kill many Nigerians.
He added that the menace was compounded by the lack of equipment.
He said, “I do understand that my first duty to you at this time is to rid the entire North of the menace of Boko Haram and secure your lives and property. You and I know that nothing in Nigeria’s past prepared us for the unprecedented reign of unmitigated terror, mayhem and destruction which these murderous terrorists have visited on parts of our country.
“The initial slowness in effectively responding to the threat was as a result of the asymmetrical nature of the war on terror and the need for us to properly equip our security agencies for the successful prosecution of the war.
“Given the recent successes recorded by our Armed Forces with your cooperation and patriotic support, the cooperation of our neighbours as well as the laudable gallantry of security agents, I am confident that in the shortest possible time, the menace of Boko Haram would have been eliminated for good.”
Jonathan’s inability to curb terrorism had made him very unpopular in some northern states to the extent that he was stoned in some of the states while he was campaigning.
Also, the soaring popularity of Jonathan’s main rival, General Muhammadu Buhari, of the All Progressives Congress, among the Arewa community seems to have jolted Jonathan.
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