Lol! These Politicians are big clowns;
always throwing banter sorry diatribes at one another. The image maker of the
former ruling party, now opposition party (PDP), Mr. Olisa Metuh has taken a
sudden whipe at the recent highly publicized visit of the President of Nigeria Muhammadu
Buhari to the United State; saying that the President embarrassed Nigeria in
the United States of America…Lol!
Premium Times reports...
The opposition Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, has claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari embarrassed Nigeria by
his actions and utterances during his recent four-day state visit to the United
States of America.
The spokesperson of the PDP,
Olisa Metuh, who addressed a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, said Mr.
Buhari’s visit has been anything but successful.
Mr. Metuh said the PDP restrained
itself from embarrassing the President by not raising, while he was in the
U.S., issues of “harassment of citizens, interferences in the activities of the
National Assembly and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),
total disregard for tenets of democracy, resort to sole administratorship as
well as other violations which have become the order of the day in Nigeria
since the inauguration of his administration”.
He said the PDP remained calm,
while hoping and praying that the visit would afford Mr. Buhari and his party
leaders reasonable “tutorials” on the respect and application of the tenets of
democracy and fundamental rights of citizens under the rule of law.
Mr. Metuh said the PDP and all
Nigerians looked forward to gains in terms of policies by the Federal
Government aimed at stamping out corruption, ending insurgency and promoting
economic growth, which formed parts of the publicised agenda for the visit.
“However, now that the visit has
come and gone, our fear is that nothing whatsoever has been learnt or gained.
What we continue to receive as a nation have been embarrassing disagreements,
accusations and counter accusations, blames and denials on very important
issues due to lack of tact and skill in the management of state matters by the
APC-led administration.
“It is disheartening that rather
than secure any sort of tangible gain for the fight against terrorism, which
has lost steam under the APC watch, with insurgents, who were pushed to the
verge of surrender by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, now surging back
and spreading into the country, we get nothing but exchanges and disagreements
between the Presidency and their American hosts.
”This is not only embarrassing
but also worrisome indication of crass ineptitude in the handling of
international affairs on the part of the present administration,” he said.
The PDP spokesperson advised the
APC-led administration to settle down, put its acts together and get determined
to face the fight against insurgency with every sense of seriousness especially
given Mr. Buhari’s promise in his April 2, 2015 CNN interview to end the
scourge two months after his inauguration.
Mr. Metuh also said while
Nigerians waited for reassuring words to promote the nation’s democracy and
unity, they were shocked as they watched Mr. Buhari unfold to the world “his
decision to administer the country on the basis of the voting pattern in the
last general elections rather than on equity as stipulated by the constitution
and his oaths of office as the President of Nigeria”.
He said Mr. Buhari told a stunned
audience in the US that “constituencies that gave me 97 per cent cannot in all
honesty be treated, on some issues, with constituencies that gave me 5 per
cent”, signifying, according to the PDP, that Mr. Buhari’s government will be
discriminatory.
“Never in the history of our
nation has a president made such a divisive and vindictive declaration.
“Never in the history of Nigeria
has a President made such tendentious, biased and partisan statement, a blade
on the chord of unity of his own country and people,” he said.
He added that Mr. Buhari as a
respected leader and the father of the nation whose “I belong to everybody and
I belong to nobody’ inaugural speech brought great hope to Nigerians, must
therefore note the enormous damage and danger his recent partisan declaration
brings to the polity.
“We demand that the President come
clear on this matter. Would this form the basis of government appointments
rather than adherence to merit and the principle of federal character as
enshrined in the constitution? Would this be a basis for termination of
appointments, promotions and key policies in the service circle?
“Would it form the basis for
distribution of infrastructural development projects and other essential
interventions rather than the principle of equity and equality of federating
units as stipulated by the constitution? Is this a deliberate policy by the APC
or his personal stance? Are we expecting the same discriminatory policy from
APC state governors?
“May we remind President Buhari
that his declaration to run a discriminatory government is in clear violation
of his oath of office as President wherein he publicly swore “that in all
circumstances, I will do right to all manner of people, according to law,
without fear or favour, affection or ill-will; …”
“Our fear however is that the
President’s stance has further divided the people along sectional and religious
lines and may trigger a return of quest for ethnic and sectional
self-determination. The burden therefore lies squarely on him to moderate the
political ambiance in the nation and do the needful in reassuring all sections
of the nation of his commitment to be fair and just, in keeping with the oaths
and demands of the highly respected office of the President of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria” he said.
Needless embarrassment of
Nigerian businessmen
The PDP also chastised Mr. Buhari
over his reported public disgrace to some Nigerian businessmen in the US.
Mr Metuh said the business
community in Nigeria and across the world noted with “utter dismay the
disgraceful treatment meted out on some Nigerian bankers and captains of
industries by President Buhari during his US visit”.
He said whereas the President has
the right to decide who makes his entourage on such an important official
visit, which, he also said, “visibly excluded National Assembly leaders,
economic experts and had no woman”, he said the manner with which he “shamed
and walked out” Nigerians businessmen sends very wrong signal to international
investors and poses great threats to inflow of direct foreign investment into
the country.
“These Nigerian businessmen were
rejected by their President only for them to be valued by other Presidents of
African nations who led them into a meeting with President Barrack Obama in
their own countries on account of their investments in those nations,” PDP
said.
PDP said it would for now reserve
comments on the “numerous blunders and gaffes” in the presentation of ideas,
during the visit. It, however, said, it has noted the embarrassment caused by
the absence of an economic team for healthy and informed discussion at the
meeting with officials of the US government.
“Whereas President Obama came to
the meeting with a formidable team of experts and key federal officials, our
President had three APC governors with questionable performance and who owe
salaries and billion of naira in debts, thereby robbing our nation the benefits
and gains of the discussions,” Mr. Metuh said.
Render account
The PDP spokesperson added that
since Mr. Buhari has insisted on running his government as a “sole
administrator”, making important decisions on national affairs without recourse
to relevant statutory arms and organs of government, his party is compelled to
demand that the administration comes out clear on its expenses since assumption
of office in May in keeping with its much harped stance on transparency.
“We make this demand because
since the APC took office, the nation’s financial system in the absence of
statutory functionaries has been enmeshed in confusion, controversy and fertile
atmosphere for financial sleazes.
“Recall that when it assumed
office, this administration raised the issue of empty treasury only for the
nation to learn few days later from the Accountant General of the Federation
that about $2.1 billion was left in the Excess Crude Account (ECA). When the
PDP demanded credit for the ECA savings, the nation was suddenly made aware of
huge sums from the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas dividends from which the
APC-led Federal Government announced financial bailout for states.
“It is interesting to note that
whereas the Presidency has gone ahead to unilaterally deplete the funds without
recourse to appropriate statutory arms of government, state governors are on
air announcing that they have not received any form of bailout whatsoever from
the centre, raising serious questions on the handling of national resources.
“This is more so as we have
information that the Presidency acting alone, has gone into discussions with
the World Bank for a loan of $2.1 billion for purposes unknown to Nigerians.
What is the loan for? What are the terms and who are those working the papers?
Who are the people to decide on how the money will be spent? Is it true that
the $2.1 billion loan is meant to pay back huge contributions for the APC
Presidential campaign expenses? If truly this government is transparent, it
should come out clear on this loan as well as publicize details of its
expenditure in the last two months,” Mr. Metuh said.
He also said the PDP is worried
that the “ineptitude, avoidable inactivity, lack of policy direction and
absence of ministers to coordinate government affairs have left the nation’s
economy sour with continued slide in the naira which has fallen from under N200
to the dollar in May to an all time low of N240, in addition to the
excruciating loss in the capital market which has lost over N1.1 trillion in
the last two months.
“With the recent display of
insensitivity in deciding that ministers would be appointed in September, a
reneging on the earlier promise to unfold a cabinet two weeks after
inauguration, Nigerians should brace up for more economic loses ahead, a
development which spells doom for the gains earlier achieved by the PDP
administration in growing our economy to the biggest in Africa and one of the
fastest growing in the world.
“Indeed, Nigerians are no longer
in doubt that they have been scammed with long list of empty promises. This
government has failed to articulate any policy direction in any sector.
“What we see is a smart attempt
at cosmetic governance, loud propaganda and artful move to appropriate the
achievements made by the PDP-led administration; such as the effort in ending
polio, the improvement in power supply which is a dividend from numerous
investments by the previous administrations, the return of the railways among
others.
“The only achievements and change
brought by the APC government are the curbing of the fundamental human rights
of citizens; engaging in selective application of war against corruption,
interfering in the activities of the National Assembly and eroding the independence
of INEC. The order of the day has become the crass victimization and harassment
of officials of the immediate past administration,” he said.
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