Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s four northern rivals in upcoming elections accused him on Tuesday of using bomb blasts in the capital Abuja as a pretext to hunt down and silence his political opponents.
Former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida, former Nigerian vice president Atiku Abubakar, former national security adviser Aliyu Gusau and Kwara State Governor Bukola Saraki — all running against Jonathan for the ruling party ticket in next year’s polls — accused him of using the security services to intimidate his opponents.
It is the first time Jonathan’s northern rivals have come out in such strong solidarity against him, ratcheting up tensions ahead of what were already set to be the most fiercely contested polls since the end of military rule a decade ago.
“President Jonathan has ... given the green light to the security agencies to hunt down his perceived political opponents and rope them into the planning and execution of the bomb blasts,” the four said in a joint statement.
The presidency said the security agencies must be left to conclude their investigations, which were based not just on Nigerian but also British and US intelligence.
The controversy over who is to blame for the blasts near a parade to mark Nigeria’s 50th anniversary of independence on Friday last week has exposed one of Nigeria’s deepest fault lines, between its largely-Muslim north and -predominantly Christian south.
Jonathan’s candidacy in the elections is contentious because some in the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) argue it breaks an unwritten agreement that power should rotate every two terms between the north and the south.
Jonathan, a southerner, inherited the presidency when northerner Umaru Yar’Adua died this year part way through his first term. His backers say he was elected on a joint ticket and can legitimately contest; his opponents say the pact must stand.
The probe into the bombs has been dragged into the debate.
The attacks were claimed by the Movement of the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the main militant group in Nigeria’s oil-rich south. The claim was an embarrassment for Jonathan, one of the main architects of an amnesty in the Niger Delta last year and the first head of state to come from the region.
Jonathan said the group’s name was used as a cover and blamed a “small terrorist group that resides outside Nigeria” sponsored by “unpatriotic elements within the country.”
Jonathan’s apparent exoneration of MEND has infuriated some in the north. A group of northern politicians led by former Nigerian finance minister Adamu Ciroma described it as a “rude shock to the nation” and called on Jonathan to resign.
Babangida’s camp accused the authorities of a witch hunt after his campaign director, Raymond Dokpesi, was questioned by the secret service in connection with the blasts on Monday.
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