Ijaw leader defends Azazi

Posted by admin Headlines, Niger Delta Friday, May 4th, 2012

As reactions continued to trail the National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen Owoeye Azazi’s (rtd) utterance on the festering insecurity problem occasioned by the activities of Boko Haram, an Ijaw leader, Denzil Amagbe Kentebe, has stoutly risen in defence of the security chief, declaring that he has not done anything wrong to warrant his removal or resignation from office.

Kentebe who was a member of the Aaron team set up by the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) to negotiate with the Federal Government under late President Umar Yar ‘Adua, in a statement said those calling for Azazi’s head have failed to take into consideration the political scheming that preceded the election of President Goodlcuk Jonathan as the flag bearer of Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) and utterances by certain political leaders to make the country ungovernable.
While noting that Jonathan himself has said there were Boko Haram members in his government, he explained that Azazi in his capacity as NSA is not under obligation to follow party interest in looking at issues that affect the security of all Nigerians.

He insisted that Azazi should be commended for his efforts in tackling the security problem, stressing that those calling for his sack have selfish motives.
The statement reads in part: “What then has the General said that has made the demand for his resignation common talk? The President himself said early in the year that there are members of Boko Haram in his government. Are members of his government not also PDP members? General Azazi’s is a professional and his job is to advice Mr. President on security issues that concern every Nigerian and not to be a partisan PDP member or make pronouncements to satisfy party members. In my opinion, a lot has been achieved by this administration in curbing insecurity as things could have been far worse. Credit for that should go to the NSA and his team. Those calling for his sack have a selfish, ethnic and political agenda and must be ignored by Mr. President.

“We have corruption embedded in our system from years of misrule by previous governments yet no one is calling for investigation or prosecution of those past leaders. Our country has had serious security challenges in the past and no one fired the serving NSA at those times.
The Boko Haram situation is a great security risk to our country and has led to the loss of many innocent lives. This is the time every patriotic citizen must play his or her role in complementing the efforts of the present administration to stop this madness being fuelled by politics of 2015. This is what General Azazi has done and only those who are unpatriotic should be calling for his sack at this time. What we all must be calling for is a ‘sack’ of Boko Haram”

-Sunwp_posts