by Lekan Olanrewaju

President Jonathan clearly isn’t just going to sit back and take the blame for problems he believes he had no hand in creating. Nigeria’s number one citizen, yesterday, stated that the problems of the country did not begin with him, and that citizens should resist the urge to “play politics” with the issue of national development.

Speaking at Udi in Enugu State during the funeral service in honour of the mother of Governor Sullivan Chime, he reminisced on the history of the country from 1914, when the Southern and Northern protectorates were amalgamated, stressing that something must have gone wrong between then and now.

“Sometimes, when critics are lambasting the government, me, as the President and the governors sometimes begin to think that, ‘Yes, it is starting today’,” Mr. President said. “But, what we promise Nigerians is that this country must change.”

“When the priest was speaking, I started asking myself, what must have gone wrong from 1914, when the Northern and Southern parts of the country were amalgamated? They were under colonial rule until 1960 when we started governing ourselves. From 1960 to date it is about 50 years.”

“I don’t think it is the two years that President Jonathan assumed the office that these problems came up,” Dr. Jonathan opined. “So, something must have gone wrong and all of us citizens of this country must reassess ourselves, our journey from independence till date, the areas that we have not done too well in order to effect a change.”

“Let us not play politics with the development of the country. Let us work hard to change our country for the better. We have no other country to go to. There was a time we had a television advert where Andrew wanted to check out of the country; we are not checking out of this country, we will all stay, we will all work together, do our best to change this country for our children.”