Jonathan in Sokoto, says I don’t hate northerners
President Goodluck Jonathan took his campaign to Sokoto State yesterday where he said his government had invested much to stop polio in the North.
He said he would have declared the country polio-free but for the insecurity in the North-East.
The president was reacting to what he described as lies being told northerners about him in order to tarnish his image.
“There are lies being told northerners. Don’t vote Jonathan. Jonathan doesn’t like the North. But I used to ask, I came on board and I established 14 universities and out of these 14, four were in southern Nigeria and 10 in the North, if I don’t like the North, if I don’t like the children from the northern part of this country to be like me I don’t think I will establish 10 universities in the region,” he said.
He added that if he hated the North, he wouldn’t have spent so much on almajiri education. He said that more than 70 percent budgeted for agriculture was spent in the North, and challenged former leaders, especially those of northern extraction, to tell how many universities and schools they built for the region.
He also challenged them to tell northerners in what way they had helped to develop the region in terms of agriculture and transportation.
Jonathan said most polio cases he inherited were in the North. The president also dismissed allegations of skewed distribution of federal government projects.
On allegations that he was instigating terror so that there would be no election, he said there is no constitutional provision that says a president can stay in office beyond four years.