Ann-Kio Briggs, a leading environmental and human rights activist, has criticised Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, for enlisting the help of the late President Goodluck Jonathan in the next 2023 general election.
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In response to Tinubu’s consultative visit to Jonathan on Tuesday at his Abuja residence, Briggs, who talked with The Punch on Wednesday, August 31, 2022 characterised the APC standard bearer as shameless.
She claimed that Tinubu ought to be embarrassed of himself for speaking with Jonathan about running for president just a few years after hurling verbal jabs and insults at him and his wife, Patience, on the grounds that he was an Ijaw minority president from the Niger Delta.
Briggs stated that Tinubu was one of the Jonathan administration’s detractors who organised resistance against him and referred to him by a variety of insulting names.
If not, Tinubu should be too ashamed to go see Jonathan and sit down on the chair in his house since politics in Nigeria is a filthy game about individuals, not about the people.
“This is a man (Tinubu) that cannot differentiate between politics of ideology and shameful politics. They hauled insults at him (Jonathan), they hauled insults at his wife.
“They constructed effigies to mock Jonathan; they organised ‘Occupy Nigeria’ and paraded with coffins and did all kinds things against Jonathan. Today, they are shamelessly visiting Jonathan, sitting on his chair in his house.”
Briggs stressed that Jonathan had admitted while in office that he was the most insulted and abused president, calling him “a kind-hearted man and Ijaw son” who had been vindicated on many fronts.
The activist added that “after all the insults, calling him clueless, they are now visiting Jonathan and sitting in his house” and that “Tinubu and his ilk should realise that the oil and gas riches in Jonathan’s Niger Delta remained the sources of their feeding and wellbeing of Nigeria.”
Briggs had stated similar opinions on her Facebook page, claiming that all anti-Jonathan elements, including the APC presidential candidate, would have their just desserts.
She argued that Tinubu could not have hated Ijaw people in 2015, when Jonathan lost his campaign for reelection and wanted to win the upcoming presidential election in Ijaw territory.
Briggs continued, “One by one, from top to bottom, they all go back to Jonathan to receive their shovel of hot coal on their heads. I will tell the APC/Tinubu for free that if Ijaws vote for him, it will not be at a level for him to claim victory in Ijaw nation. He cannot hate Ijaws in 2015 and expect Ijaws to vote for him in 2023. Jonathan is an Ijaw son and man, but all Ijaws are not Jonathan.
“Go and collect your debt from Buhari, Jonathan no get vote for you inside our creeks, swamps and mangroves. Ijaw youths are not going to eat the corn and groundnut you are offering, we have enough plantain, fish and all the oil and gas we need to import all we want to eat.”
