I Don’t Hate Northerners, Infact I Love & Work With Them- President Jonathan

    President Jonathan today at the presidential lodge while speaking to the Northern Elders Council, NEC, who came to pay him a courtesy visit said, he is aware some people are insinuating he hates Northerners, but wonders why that is so as he has a lot of Northerners in his cabinet, including the vice-president and have a handful of them as friends too.“Some people say Jonathan hates the north; I have heard that statement and I tell Namadi Sambo; `they say I hate the north but you are here as my Vice-President’.


“I tell the National Security Adviser and my Principal Secretary the same thing. In fact my Principal Secretary (Hassan Tukur) has been my friend since I was the deputy governor of Bayelsa​.​


“I never knew I was going to come here as Vice-President not to talk of President. But I have known him since I was the deputy governor of Bayelsa.

“My Chief Detail, Yusuf, is from Borno and has been with me since I was a deputy governor in Yenagoa.

“I see him as a good person and I have carried him along with me. So I had to ask how can somebody wake up and say I hate the north?” he said.


The president also pointed that, out of the 12 new federal universities established by his administration, nine were in the north while only three were in the south. He said his government also initiated Almajiri education in the north to bring the region at par with the south in terms of education development, so he wonders where the hate comes from, he said.