BY TONY EDIKE

ENUGU  —  National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, yesterday, attributed the increasing level of insecurity in the country to the inordinate ambitions of some faceless politicians.

He said it was wrong for people to assess the performance of President Goodluck Jonathan using the current terrorism by the Islamist group, Boko Haram, as a yardstick, saying some Nigerian politicians instigated the ugly development to bring the country to negative global view.

The APGA Chairman, who reviewed the 15 years of uninterrupted democracy, told newsmen in Enugu that it was not the best of time for the country, following the threat to stability by the activities of insurgents.

He said: “There is no doubt that the various threats to security in this country are driven by inordinate ambition of faceless politicians in the country.

“We cannot forget completely that in 2010, before the general elections in 2011, some prominent politicians in this country threatened that if Jonathan ever became the President of this country, they would make the country ungovernable.

“And since Jonathan became President in 2011, that threat has become a reality, the country is being destabilised, the President is hugely being distracted from pursuing his transformation agenda.

“As people try to associate Boko Haram with religious bigots, I have always seen it differently, that the spate of terrorism in this country is the handiwork of disgruntled politicians. It may be possible that some elements may have been recruited to do that, but it has been a joke carried too far.

“We in APGA are calling on everybody for soul searching, sober reflection and sparing thoughts on what the future of the country portends.   We are lucky to have had 15 years of uninterrupted democracy but certainly the signals are not encouraging.

“People have used their personal interests to drive public actions and this is not the way it is done in civilised societies. When people’s personal interests are not guaranteed, they threaten the corporate existence of the nation.”

Umeh, however,  urged politicians to accept that they had  failed the country and unite with President Jonathan to find ways of moving the country out of its present challenges.

He noted that Nigerians would not continue to take excuses when very important issues that could unite the country were being trivialised with politics.

“The people fomenting this present situation cannot reap from it during the 2015 general election. Nigerians are not daft and we know the things that are holding the country down. Boko Haram insurgency is an issue that should not be personalized to question the competence of a leader because even America is finding it difficult to deal with terrorism; war against terrorism is not fought and won overnight”, headded.

Umeh faulted the signals from the national conference, saying, it appears to have “turned into a dialogue between two deaf men” as it is not offering hope towards the problems the country has faced in the past years coupled with the activities of   Boko Haram.

He said that the party, APGA was solidly behind the president and federal government in the battle to find solutions to the security challenges facing the country and called on politicians to unite with the government.