According to Punch newspaper, President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday condemned some politicians parading themselves as statesmen and senior citizens whereas, they are by their utterances, “ordinary politicians and motor park touts.”
He said such politicians could not be described as statesmen because of the big offices they occupied before but by virtue of what they brought to bear on the nation.
Jonathan spoke while playing host to a delegation of the Tanko-Yakasai-led Northern Elders Council in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Although the President did not mention names, former President Olusegun Obasanjo had on Monday said Nigeria was facing economic problems due to the failure of the present administration to plan for a rainy day.
Obasanjo had told Iyalodes and eminent women leaders from the South-West, who visited him at his Hilltop residence in Abeokuta, Ogun State, that the nation’s reserves which as of 2007 stood at $67bn had been depleted by the Federal Government.
The former President had earlier written an open letter to Jonathan in which he accused him of tribalism, condoning corruption and training snipers.
But a visibly angry Jonathan told the Northern elders that some people were hiding under big names to create problems for the country.
Jonathan also said that such people were in the habit of making unguarded statements with the aim of creating enmity.
The President said, “Some people call themselves statesmen but they are not statesmen, they are just ordinary politicians.
“For you to be a statesman, it is not because you have occupied a big office before but the question is what are you bringing to bear on the nation?
“Are you building this country? Or are you a part of the people who tell lies to destroy this country; to create enmity and make people who ordinarily would have been living together to fight themselves?
“Are you planning to set the country ablaze because you did not get that particular thing you want?
“At the appropriate time, Nigerians will know all of them even though I know most of such people. The younger ones do not know.
“Some people, including those with big names, are hiding under some clogs and creating a lot of problems in this country.
“They are making provocative statements that will set this country ablaze. How can someone tell me that such people are senior citizens. They are not senior citizens and they can never be. They are ordinary motor park touts.
“If you are a senior citizen, you will act like one. It is not because of the offices we occupy, it is by divine grace and providence that some of us occupy these offices. But what role are you playing to build this country?”
Jonathan also used the opportunity to assure the delegation that he was not against the Northern part of the country.
He said whenever he heard about such accusation, he always turned to Vice- President Namadi Sambo who is from the North to ask if, indeed, he is anti-North.
The President listed his Principal Secretary, Hassan Tukur, and his Chief Detail simply identified as Yusuf, as some of his close aides from the North.
Jonathan said because of his background, he believed that the only thing that could liberate individuals was education.
He said that was why he insisted that nine out of the 12 new federal universities be located in the North.
Jonathan said, “I used to tell Nigerians that I come from a background people refer to as the Talakawas; I come from that level and I am here today talking to Alhaji Jimeta because I went to school, The Punch reported. (The Punch).