President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday lambasted the Kano State Governor, Musa Kwankwaso, saying he is a political “gambler” who is hallucinating about becoming Nigeria’s president.

Mr. Jonathan, who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ruben Abati, was responding to criticisms by Mr. Kwankwaso that the president lacked the capacity to serve as commander in-chief of Nigeria’s Armed Forces.

The governor, who is a presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has during his campaign fund launch in Abuja on Saturday made scathing remarks about the Presidency.

He urged APC faithful and Nigerians to vote for the right person to replace Mr. Jonathan, who he accused of failing to secure the lives and property of the citizenry.

But responding, Mr. Jonathan said the Kano State governor is an incompetent and clueless presidential aspirant. “The point must be made very clearly that the kind of comment Governor Kwankwaso made at an occasion where he was doing a fund raiser for his gamble to become the presidential candidate of the APC shows that he is a very incompetent and a clues presidential aspirant,” said Mr. Abati.

“One would have expected that at an occasion where he was raising funds to promote his gamble to become the presidential flag bearer of the APC, he would project himself as a man who has a vision and an agenda for moving Nigeria forward. “Instead, what he has done at every turn in this his new found gamble and hallucinatory ambition to become the president of Nigeria is to rundown President Jonathan at every opportunity.”

The president noted that Mr. Kwankwaso is one aspirant who believes that by pulling him down, the governor can rise. Mr. Jonathan drew attention to how Mr. Kwankwaso poured invectives on the presidency when he declared for the presidential ticket of the APC and again at the campaign fund raising, saying the actions were unfortunate.

The president continued, “I think it is a tragicomedy because at every point he goes into this his gamble to become a presidential candidate of the APC, the only thing he does is complain about President Jonathan, instead of using the opportunity to talk about what he wants to do for Nigerians.

“It is obvious that he is clueless and an incompetent presidential aspirant and is not in a position to talk about incompetence. He is even the one that is incompetent and that is masked gross paranoia. He is complaining that President Jonathan is not doing enough to check insurgency and we are inviting countries that we have helped before to come and help us.”

Mr. Abati explained that the Federal Government did not reach out to its neighbours in the fight against insurgency out of desperation.

Rather, as a global threat, he said the only way to tackle terrorism is for countries to work together and exchange intelligence.

He, therefore, described Mr. Kwankwaso’s diatribe as counterproductive and unreasonable, saying any aspirant playing politics with insurgency lacked the basic understanding of the complexity of the problem.

“Any intelligent aspirant will see very clearly that insurgency affects all of us and what is required is for all Nigerians to walk together. Governor Kwankwaso wants to be the president of Nigeria in his dreams,” Mr. Jonathan said.

“He doesn’t understand the nature of our security challenge and I think it is most unfortunate that a person of such low level of understanding can seek the office of the president.”

On the claim that some top PDP members will soon defect to the APC, Mr. Jonathan said the Kano State governor is trapped in a drivel and should not be taken seriously.

While confirming his status as the sole presidential candidate of the PDP, having been endorsed by party members at all levels, Mr. Jonathan expressed confidence that he will emerge not only at the party’s convention, but also during the 2015 polls.

At the time he would again emerge as president, Mr. Abati noted that the garrulous APC aspirant will be nowhere to be found given the way he has so confidently and arrogantly advertised his ignorance.

“His ambition at every point ends up as a tragicomedy and the clearest illustration of the tragicomic nature is to gamble in lies. Mr. Kwankwaso doesn’t even understand what insurgency is all about or what terrorism is all about.

“He makes it seems as if the terrorism in Nigeria is a fault of Mr. Jonathan and everything must be heaped on his head,” the president said.

 Source: PT