Jonathan under pressure to sack Azazi

Hello Friends!

I seem not to get this whole "drama" currently playing out inside the camp of the PDP. The president under pressure to sack an officer of the State for speaking out his mind(which unfortunately happens to be the TRUTH).

If you look closely and carefully at the history of the democratic regime of this country after the last military rule, there seem to be some sense in what Azazi has said....

President Goodluck Jonathan is under intense pressure to remove the National Security Adviser, Gen. Andrew Azazi (retd.) The PUNCH has gathered. Azazi’s sin is that he blamed the Peoples Democratic Party for the activities of the Islamic group, Boko Haram, recently. Azazi made the comment on Friday at the Second South-South Economic Summit.

Investigations on Monday in Abuja showed that though some members of the PDP were mounting pressure on the President to remove Azazi, the party’s National Working Committee and other chieftains were divided on the issue.

Many PDP chieftains from the far North (North-West and North-East) were said to be behind the move to remove the NSA. They considered Azazi’s comment an indictment on the North

It was, however, gathered that the President had so far resisted such pressure on the grounds that it was premature to take such an action.

A source who wished not to be named told one of our correspondents that Jonathan was under pressure from his kinsmen not to budge on the issue.

The South-South leaders, who were supporting Azazi, it was learnt, argued that the NSA said the obvious, when he blamed the PDP for the Boko Haram crisis.

Azazi, had at the South-South Economic Summit on Friday, said the PDP’s brand of politics, especially the way it picked its candidates for elections, was partly responsible for the Boko Haram problem.

He had said, “A situation where a political party insists on fielding a particular candidate over another to get a massive win, and that if they get that massive win the party has arrived, is the source of the problem.”

But Jonathan, in an interview with journalists after inspecting the bombed ThisDAY office in Abuja, defended the PDP, describing it as one of the most democratic parties.

A prominent PDP member from the North-West told one of our correspondents in confidence, “The NSA is too much involved in politics. His statement is capable of dividing the party along regional lines.

“What he has said indirectly is that the insistence on zoning by the North partly caused Boko Haram. For the party to be seen as one, Azazi must go. I am aware that some chieftains of the party have been contacting Jonathan on the need to remove the NSA.”

The anti-Azazi elements in the PDP are said to argue that his retention would reinforce the belief that there is no discipline in Jonathan’s administration.

The PDP chieftain stated, “The President has distanced himself from what Azazi said. The honourable thing for Azazi is to leave. If he does not, Jonathan should remove him.”

It was learnt that the anti-Azazi elements also said that an NSA should be seen, not heard.

The PDP chieftain said, “You will recall that this is not the first controversy he will cause.”

At an emergency meeting of the National Council on September 6, Azazi had said the country’s security outfits were caught unawares by the strategy introduced by Boko Haram sect. He also declared that terrorism had come to stay.

But a PDP chieftain from the South-South said the President would not remove Azazi.

The PDP chieftain, who spoke to one of our correspondents on the condition of anonymity, said that removing Azazi would be inimical to the interest of the Presidency and indeed the government.

He said that it would be unfair to remove the NSA for being frank in saying that the raging threat to national security was caused by the zoning formula of the PDP.

He added that the crisis started shortly after a northern politician threatened to make the country ungovernable during the PDP primaries.

The source said that any move to remove Azazi would be resisted, as he remained the only Christian and indeed Southern to be appointed the NSA since the position was created.

He said, “We are aware that some people want Azazi to go. We have also told the President to ignore such people.”

The PDP’s NWC, it was gathered, had met to discuss the issue.

The PDP NWC considered Azazi’s statement to be provocative and capable of dividing the party.

A member of the NWC, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said the party would push for Azazi’s sacking.

The NWC member said, “We are very pained with the comment of the NSA, who we considered ought to be part of us. Though there is no record that he is a member of our party, but being a senior member of the government which produced the President he is serving, he should not have taken us to the cleaners the way he did.

“What he said was like saying those behind the bombings are members of our party. Even if he has some security reports that suggest that, he should have a way of bringing such to the attention of the President and the leadership of the party.

“We are still meeting on the issue(whether to press for NSA’s sacking), but I can tell you that majority of our members want the man out of office.”

However, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, told our correspondent on the telephone that the disagreement between the party and the NSA had not reached the level of calling for his sacking.

He said, “We have not reached that level yet. No, we have not.”

Our correspondent however gathered that the President might not remove Azazi, “at least for now.”

A Presidency source said the President might consider the call for Azazi’s sacking as a ploy by some northern to get one of their own back to the office.

The President, it was further gathered, though not happy with the open outburst of the NSA, might just rebuke him and caution him to be more careful in the future. The source said, “The President will not because of that remove his NSA, whom he considered to be very loyal and trustworthy. Yet, he (Azazi) could have made a mistake with his open comments, but that may not necessarily lead to his removal.”Culled from The Punch.

xoxo
Simply Cheska...