Okupe Lampoons el-Rufai, Bakare for disparaging Jonathan

The Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe, on Wednesday, lambasted the former FCT miniter, Mallam El-Rufai, over his call for the resignation of President Goodluck Jonathan if he could not solve the present security challenges in the country. Speaking yesterday to State house correspondent, he also advised former Vice Presidential candidate of the Congress for Progress Change (CPC), Pastor Tunde Bakare, to desist from using the pulpit for anti-President Goodluck Jonathan politics. The former FCT Minister was said to have made the remarks as violence escalated especially in the northern part of the country. Dr Okupe warned against the manipulation of the present security situation in the country by politicians for selfish purposes. He noted that insurgency as a phenomenon was difficult to resolve in places where it occurred around the world adding that there were no calls on the leaders of those countries to resign on account of the terrorists activities. "El-Rufai is my younger brother. I have so much respect for him but politics is more or less derailing or deranging him. "Everybody knows that insurgency is a very difficult problem. It is not anything peculiar to Nigeria. No responsible citizen of any of thosecountries affected by insurgency before called on their presidents to resign" he said. The SSA also faulted the former minister's criticism of the president's reliance on citizens for information on terrorist activities, saying that there is no better security in any country than by the people of the country. It is communal security that will help government and security agencies to root out insurgence. "If people shield insurgents, they make the work of security agencies more difficult. Can President Goodluck Jonathan be in Borno and everywhere at the same time?" He accused politicians of trying to cash in on the situation for their own personal gains, "I believe that people just want to play politics. All what you are hearing is just the manipulation of the present situation to suit their political purposes. I am sure that my brother, El-Rufai is hopingto become a presidential candidate of one of the parties very soon. What I will expect him to do with the level of intellect, intelligence and the resource that have been given and his own personal education is to come outwith some reasonable plans, some suggestions, not just criticising government for criticising sake. "If El-Rufai was President of Nigeria, what will he do? Or is he keeping that until when he becomes the president by which time the whole country would have been wiped off? "When tragedy befalls a country, responsible men and women of that country forget partisanship and rally round their nation and try their best to help existing governments to tackle the problem. Once that is over, they go back to politics. This is not time for politics. "People should disregard and discard whatever information they hear from them every man orwoman who politicises this issue of Boko Haram. They are not serious-minded people. "Pastor Bakare also falls into that category. It is shameful. You cannot convert the pulpit to a podium. If you want to be a politician, please come out. "Pastor Bakare came into politics a few years ago and he became a vice presidential candidate of a major political party. Some of us have been in politics for 30 years and we did not even become a governor and we did not say the country must come down, that is unfair. It is unacceptable," he noted