Jonathan versus Azazi: The President disagrees with his NSA that disagreements in the ruling party fuelled the Boko Haram issue.

President Goodluck Jonathan,
on Saturday, disagreed with
the National Security Adviser,
Andrew Azazi, who said
attacks by the Boko Haram
sect were caused by the
internal problems of the ruling
People’s Democratic Party
(PDP).
Speaking with journalists when
he visited the Abuja office of
ThisDay Newspapers, which
was bombed by the radical
Islamic sect on Thursday,
Jonathan said he read of the
NSA's remarks in the papers
and will have to get the full
details of the comments and
what had transpired.
"I read some journalists
quoting the National Security
Adviser; until I read the script
myself and listen to him, I
cannot say what actually is
the truth," he said. "One thing
I do know, like philosophers will
say, is that human beings
disagree because people use
different words to mean the
same thing and use one word
to mean different things. That
is the primary reason for
disagreement."
While speaking at the just
concluded South-South
Economic Forum in Delta State,
Azazi said: "The extent of
violence did not increase until
the declaration by the
current president that he was
going to contest. PDP got it
wrong from the beginning,
from the outset by saying 'Mr
A can rule, Mr B cannot
rule'...and that created the
climate for what has manifest
itself."
Azazi had also linked the
bombings, suicide attacks and
jail breaks in the North to
what he described as “politics
of exclusion” of the PDP in the
region, and condemned the
politics of anointing candidates
including what he sees as the
“do-or-die attitude” of the
political party.
“Why is it possible that
somebody was thinking that
only Mr A could win, and that
if he could not win, there
would be problems in this
society? Let’s examine all
these issues to see whether
the level of violence in the
North East just escalated
because Boko Haram suddenly
became better trained, better
equipped and better funded,
or something else was
responsible. It takes very long
for somebody to be a sniper,"
he added.
However, the president
commended the PDP, saying
the party has been very
democratic in handling issues.
"I cannot comment much on
what happened in the first
republic, but the second
republic that I marginally
participated and this third
republic that I am a key actor,
presently as a member of the
first eleven, I still see that the
PDP as one of the most
democratic parties," he said.
"So I don't believe that it is
undemocratic practices in the
PDP that could give rise to
Boko Haram or any other
groups. So people need to ask
the NSA to explain what he
really meant. I have read it
from the papers. I don't
believe it is the undemocratic
practices of the PDP that
gave rise to this or any other
militant groups."

Source: Dailytimes Newspaper