Chibok girls: Jonathan dismisses Northern elders’ threat

  President Goodluck Jonathan has said no group can threaten him before he will perform his official duties.
He said it was wrong for any group to issue a threat asking him to rescue Chibok schoolgirls before he could get the support of any person or group for his 2015 presidential ambition.
President Jonathan, who spoke through his Senior Special Assistant to the President, Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said he was already working on how to rescue the abducted girls.

Okupe, in the statement in Abuja on Tuesday, was responding to a threat by the members of the Northern Elders Forum on Monday, where they issued October deadline for the condition to be met.
The NEF position was made known through two of its members, Solomon Dalung and Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed. 
It will be recalled that since three months ago when the more than 200 girls abducted by the members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect have been, eleven of their parents have died.
The northern elders were of the opinion the military can defeat the Boko Haram terrorists – if, indeed, the government wants to subdue the sect.
They said, “We are convinced that most of these conflicts are being engineered to weaken the North politically and economically by interests, which intend to exploit such weaknesses for electoral benefits.
“In the light of our firm conviction that the insurgency and related security challenges pose threats to the 2015 elections and the survival of our nation, we strongly advise President Goodluck Jonathan to bring an end to the insurgency in all its manifestations and produce the Chibok girls before the end of October, 2014.
“The circumstances under which our fellow citizens in and around Gwoza in Borno State in particular live and die will not be tolerated by any people who have a government and a leader sworn to defend them, and they must be reversed immediately.”
Okupe, while faulting the northern elders, said “President Jonathan does not require any threat or ultimatum from any group of persons to be alive to his responsibilities to the Nigerian People.”
He added that the issue of insurgency, especially those ideologically based on Islamic extremism was a global phenomenon, which he said required tact, military capability, serious de-radicalisation techniques and community based counter insurgency programmes to ensure success.
In these areas, he said the Federal Government was making progress.
He said the military and other security agencies were improving on operational capabilities and efficiencies by acquiring more advanced weapons and technologies.
Apart from this, he said the government had also drafted more military personnel to the region to strengthen its fighting power.
Okupe added that the government was equally taking advantage of the offers from international military and intelligence allies to assist in identifying key locations.
He said, “We are working with our neighbours to secure the borders and limit the movements of the Boko Haram fighters, building on the agreements reached at the recent summits in Paris and London.
“We are deploying more resources to maximize operational efficiency, acquire more advanced and relevant weaponry and boost the general morale of our combatants. This is why the Government recently requested for an additional funding of $1bn.
“And the last piece in the puzzle is targeting the domestic and international funding, and stopping the money flows into the coffers of the terrorists.”
On the suggestion that the government was carrying out plans aimed at scheming to annihilate any section of the country for political gain, Okupe said such accusation was “preposterous, contrary to common sense, divisive and essentially a deliberate attempt to disseminate ‘hate mentality’ and cause mischief.”
He said President Jonathan was voted for by an overwhelming majority of Nigerians across the board, and that he will never promote any policy that is either divisive or inimical to the wellbeing of any section of the polity.