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Northern Group shoves Atiku over attack on Goodluck Jonathan
By Bonaventure Phillips Melah
Arewa Mandate for Unity and National Rebirth (AMUNR), has criticized former vice president, Atiku Abubakar for his recent attack on former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election, had on Wednesday described Jonathan’s presidency as a ‘product of inexperience, among other unsavoury remarks.
But reacting to the development on Thursday, AMUNR, through a statement signed by Danladi Luka Ishiaku and Basiru Usman Wakili, National Coordinator and National Secretary respectively, urged Atiku to pursue his presidential ambition without looking for who to blame for his years of political misfortune.
AMUNR said contrary to Atiku’s wrong narrative, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan served Nigeria for 16 uninterrupted years from deputy governor to governor, vice president to acting president and president of the country for five years, adding that he was much more prepared to serve Nigeria at the highest level, with achievements that are yet to be equalled by any Nigerian leader in history.
The group said Atiku has failed to achieve his presidential ambition, partly due to what it described as desperation and impatience which it said was responsible for his movement from PDP to three different parties and back to PDP and now to ADC, saying Atiku would have served as president under the PDP of he had allowed Jonathan to complete his terms without disrupting the system.
It therefore advised the former vice president to blame himself and not Jonathan for his political woes.
AMUNR said- “Our attention has been drawn to the now familiar comments by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who has chosen to substitute revisionism for reality by branding Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency as a product of “inexperience.” This claim is not just wrong; it is mischievous.
“Dr. Jonathan rose through every constitutional rung of leadership—Deputy Governor, Governor, Vice-President, and Acting President during the national uncertainty that followed the illness of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. To dismiss that trajectory as “inexperience” is either a willful distortion of facts or a troubling misunderstanding of governance itself.
“But perhaps the more pressing question is this: from what vantage point is this judgment being made?
“Here is a man who has spent decades in perpetual pursuit of the presidency contesting, recalibrating, and returning, yet has never once borne the full weight of that office. It is, therefore, remarkable that someone whose “experience” is defined largely by ambition now seeks to diminish the record of someone whose experience was tested in office, under pressure, and in history’s full glare.
“Under Dr. Jonathan, Nigeria did not drift, it advanced. The economy was rebased, emerging as Africa’s largest. The power sector was unbundled after years of entrenched dysfunction. Agricultural corruption networks were dismantled. Rail and road infrastructure, long abandoned, were revived. These are not opinions; they are verifiable milestones.
“And then came the defining moment: when faced with the choice between personal power and national peace, Dr. Jonathan chose Nigeria. His peaceful concession in 2015 remains one of the most consequential acts of democratic leadership on the continent, an act that secured stability and earned global respect.
“That is what real leadership looks like.
“To now hear that legacy casually reduced to “inexperience” is not merely ironic, it is an attempt to gaslight a nation that lived through, and benefited from, those years.
“Nigerians remember. They remember results. They remember restraint. And they certainly remember who governed, and who merely aspired to.
“If experience is the argument, then the distinction is clear: one man has a record that can be scrutinized; the other has a résumé of repeated attempts.
“Dr. Jonathan’s legacy is not up for casual dismissal. It is written in policy, in progress, and in the democratic stability Nigeria still enjoys today.
“No amount of political revisionism can undo that record,” AMUNR concluded.
Several candidates recently shortlisted for recruitment into the Nigerian Army from Imo State have sustained varying degrees of injuries after the vehicle conveying them to the Nigerian Army Depot in Zaria, Kaduna State, was involved in a road accident on Saturday.
The candidates were said to be travelling to the training institution to commence their basic military training when the accident occurred.
Military sources familiar with the incident disclosed that the journey was being coordinated under the supervision of Lieutenant Colonel P.D. Ngal.
A military source said the victims had successfully passed the recruitment process and were heading to the Depot Nigerian Army in Zaria to begin their recruit training before the accident disrupted the journey.
“The candidates from Imo State were on their way to the Depot Nigerian Army in Zaria to begin their recruit training when the accident happened this morning,” the source said.
Videos seen by our correspondent showed several injured candidates lying by the roadside and inside damaged vehicles as emergency responders and other travellers made frantic efforts to evacuate them.
Many of the injured candidates were subsequently rushed to nearby hospitals for medical attention.
As of the time of filing this report, the exact cause of the accident and the number of casualties had yet to be officially confirmed.
Benue State Police Command has condemned the killing of the Chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Benue State chapter, Ardo Rabo Mohammed, and another man, Yakubu Isa, describing the attack as a senseless criminal act capable of undermining ongoing peace and security efforts in the state.
The victims were reportedly attacked by gunmen while returning from a security meeting along the Okwudu-Ogoli Road in Otukpo Local Government Area.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Udeme Edet, said the Commissioner of Police, CP Cletus C.N. Nwadiogbu, condemned the killings and expressed condolences to the families of the deceased.
“The Commissioner of Police strongly condemns in its entirety the brutal killing of the Chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Benue State chapter, Ardo Rabo Mohammed, and one Yakubu Isa, who were reportedly attacked by unknown assailants while returning from a security meeting along Okwudu-Ogoli Road, Otukpo,” the statement read.
According to the police, the command has commenced a full-scale investigation into the incident, with tactical and intelligence teams deployed to track down those responsible.
The Commissioner assured residents that the command would leave no stone unturned in ensuring the perpetrators are identified, arrested and prosecuted.
He appealed to members of the public to remain calm, avoid taking the law into their own hands, and refrain from spreading unverified information capable of escalating tensions.
The police also urged anyone with credible information that could aid the investigation to report to the nearest police station or contact the command through its emergency lines.
Three bandits have been arrested in Benue state after a lady who they had kidnapped and released, identified them at a motor park and raised alarm.
The k!kidnappers came to Ihotu park to board a vehicle to Makurdi and were met by the lady they had earlier kidnapped and released after collecting ransom from her relatives.
They were even using a bag they collected from the girl. The girl raised the alarm, held one inside the vehicle, and two took to their heels, but were caught.
They had a ghana-must-go bag at the back of the vehicle. N11m was found inside the bag.
Following the confirmation of their identity by another lady who was also their victim, mob gathered around with the intent to beat them up and possibly set them ablaze.
But the park manager decided to invite the police and soldiers who rescued them and took them to their station.
It was later gathered that the Benue state Governor, Rev. Father Hyacinth Alia called and said he was interested in the case which made the police to take the apprehended bandits to Makurdi, the state capital.
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