Atiku Condemns Centenary Anniversary Celebration

Former VP Abubakar Atiku

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has condemned in strong terms President Goodluck Jonathan’s jamboree celebrating the Centenary of Nigeria’s 100th anniversary regarding the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates in 1914.
Atiku, who frowned on the event being televised live by government owned broadcast media channels, said Jonathan “ought to have been sober in view of the recent killings” of about 59 secondary school students on Tuesday, in Yobe state, and other recent attacks by the Boko Haram sect.
Atiku, in a terse statement issued to the media, said, “I'm appalled by this obscenity showing on NTA, in the name of ‘Centenary Celebration.’ It is inappropriate! It is even obscene. I'm proud of our history over the last 100 years. I congratulate our President, and (all) Nigerians for this journey so far. “However,” Atiku said, “I totally denounce the party currently taking place in Abuja. It is a symbolic dance on the graves of those murdered Federal Government College children. It's also a slap on the faces of those Federal Government College parents currently mourning their children, and those crying over their abducted children.”
At press time, officials inside the Jonathan government have declined to comment on the stance offered by the former vice president.