[allAfrica.com]


Some .2m Killed in Ethnic Crises, Says Rimi

This Day (Lagos)
NEWS
October 22, 2002
Posted to the web October 22, 2002

By Chuks Akunna
Abuja
A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential aspirant, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi,
has said no fewer than 200,000 lives have been lost to ethno-religious and
political upheavals across the country since May 1999, when President Olusegun
Obasanjo took over power from the military.
Making the claim at the public presentation of his manifesto and programme of
action in Abuja yesterday, Rimi, a former governor of the old Kano State, urged
PDP members to, at the party's forthcoming presidential primaries, elect a
candidate who will not bring the name of PDP to disrepute.
"Between May 1999 to date, the failure of the Obasanjo presidency is colossal,
total and extremely destructive in all respects...ethno-religious conflicts
rage everywhere. Conservative estimate put the total number of recorded
upheavals at about 50 with well over 200,000 people, yet Nigeria is not at
war," lamented Rimi.
Recalling the "murderous campaign" in Odi and Zaki-Biam, politically-motivated
assassinations of prominent political figures, including the late Attorney-
General, Chief Bola Ige, as well as Ikeja bomb-blasts, among others, Rimi
expressed surprise that the Federal Government did not find it fit to "bring
anybody to account for these gross acts of negligence, incompetence and
dereliction of duty."
He described Obasanjo as conducting himself contrary to what he said was PDP's
"covenant with the people of Nigeria," and sued for the emergence of a
candidate who will redeem the "brazen castigation of the PDP" which he said he
and other founding fathers of the party fought hard to establish.
The presidential aspirant pledged to, if elected, provide among other things,
leadership by example, comprehensive resource management, the political will to
act, national development programme, power generation, transmission and
distribution, and enhanced agricultural output.

   

  =============================================================================
   Copyright © 2002 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica
                         Global Media (allAfrica.com).
  =============================================================================