Following the The Nigeria Labour Congress warning that the country faces many strikes, the country unions followed up with strikes that were matched with civil protests from 9-13 January 2012. Protesters and groups called for President Jonathan to resign over the removal of fuel subsidies. After five days of national protests and strikes, on 16 January, Jonathan announced that the pump price of petroleum would be 97 naira per liter. During his South African magistrate court trial on 2 May 2012, MENDs (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) former leader Henry Okah came out and insisted that President Jonathan masterminded bomb attacks. He told the court that President Jonathan and his aides organised the October 1, 2010 independence day bomb attacks in Abuja in a desperate political strategy to demonize political opponents, including the former military President General Ibrahim Babangida, and to win popular sympathy ahead of the 2011 elections. The Nigerian Presidency has denied the allegations of terrorism levelled against President Jonathan. A media statement was issued on 2 May 2012, acknowledging the accusations from Okah. The statement went on to say that: The Presidency categorically affirms that these allegations are false in their entirety and without any factual foundation. The Presidency also expressed no interest in commenting further for the time being, but plans to make a full representation on the matter to the court when the trial opens. In May 2012, President Jonathan changed the name of the University of Lagos, renaming it the Moshood Abiola University in honour of the late MKO Abiola. The action drew attention from critics -- among them were pro-Abiola advocates and parties involved with the university. Some critics cited that the President did not submit an appropriate bill to the legislature for the change; that the Universitys brand name should not be tampered with. The UNILAG Alumni Association commented that although they do not have prejudice against MKO Abiola, they were concerned that neither the Governing Council nor the University Senate nor any other stakeholder was consulted before the change was announced.Bola Tinubu congratulated Jonathan for taking action, but urged him to do it right, adding that we must be careful not to localise or sectionalise MKO. The President has attempted to regularize the renaming of the school by submitting a bill for an amendment of the Universitys establishing law to the legislature. On 26 August 2011, after the UN building in Abuja was bombed by Boko Haram, Jonathan announced that it was not merely an attack on Nigeria, but on the international community. He told reporters that we would work together with the UN and other world leaders to ensure that terrorism is brought under control. On Christmas Day, after a church was bombed and more violence occurred in the north, Jonathan came in for more criticism over the security challenge in the country. Further attacks occurred on Christmas and in early January 2012, claimed by Boko Haram. In addition to the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Deltas attack on a oil pipeline on 4 February 2012 in Bayelsa, the Senate President David Mark stated that the security situation in the country is intolerable.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 20:17:31 +0000
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