*Buhari with Kerry (US Secretary of State)
Press Conference By The National
Publicity Secretary Of The PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, Today, Sunday, July 26, 2015
At The PDP National Secretariat, Abuja
Gentlemen of the press, we have once again called you up to address a
number of very important issues constituting a threat to our democracy, the
general health of our nation and our welfare as citizens under the All
Progressives Congress (APC) administration.
Last Thursday, our dear President, President Muhammadu Buhari returned
from his much-publicised visit to the United States of America
As a responsible political party, committed to peace and the stability
of our dear nation, the PDP restrained itself from embarrassing the President
by not raising, while he was in the States, 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.
Rather, we remained calm, while hoping and praying that the visit would
afford our President 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.
This is in addition to the fact that as patriotic citizens, we looked
forward for gains especially given our restated support for any action or
policy 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.
*Metuh
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.
We urge the APC-led administration to settle down, put its acts together
and get determined, without further excuse, to face the fight against
insurgency with every sense of seriousness especially given President Buhari’s
promise in his April 2, 2015 CNN interview to end the scourge two months after
his inauguration, which is by the end of this month.
Also, while Nigerians awaited for reassuring words to promote our
democracy and unity as a nation, they were shocked as they watched President
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.
President Buhari told a stunned audience in the US
Never in the history of our nation has a president made such a divisive
and vindictive declaration. Never in the history of Nigeria
President 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.
[VIDEO]
Buhari In His Own Words
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.
Similarly, the business community in Nigeria
and indeed 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
Whereas the President has the right to decide who makes his entourage on
such an important official visit, which visibly excluded National Assembly
leaders, economic experts and had no woman, 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
our 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.
Whilst we reserve our comments on the numerous blunders and gaffes in
the presentation of ideas, we note the embarrassment caused by the absence of
an economic team for healthy and informed discussion at the meeting with
officials of the US
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.
Furthermore, since the President 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, we are compelled
to demand that this administration come 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 center, raising serious
questions on the handling of national resources.
*Buhari delivering his inaugural address: “I
belong to everybody and I belong to nobody’
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.
We are 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.
The recent organized public humiliation of the immediate-past First Lady
and wife of the former President, Dame Patience Jonathan at the Port Harcourt airport where she was refused access to the
protocol longue based on ‘order from Abuja
While we note that this development has been widely condemned by
Nigerians, we ask if the former President erred in conceding defeat. Is the
Federal Government by any means encouraging a sit-tight attitude by government
officials?
Moreover, we have been watching with keen interest the unfolding
scenario in INEC where the Presidency has been making every effort to rewrite
the constitution and the law with the singular aim to perpetuate Mrs. Amina
Zakari as Chairman in spite of her relationship and closeness to key APC
leaders. We are also aware of the position of the law and that Mrs. Zakari’s
tenure as a member of the commission elapsed on July 21, 2015.
We restate that as long as Mrs. Zakari remains in the commission, it
should not be considered as independent and we will not accept any attempt to
manipulate the results of the forthcoming governorship elections in Kogi and
Bayelsa, which are known PDP strongholds.
Finally, we state in clear terms that for the APC, it is a matter of so
far, bad change. So far, bad change that the government has failed to
articulate any clear policy direction with attendant avoidable confusion and
economic downturn; so far, bad change that our dear nation is gradually sliding
into a banana republic were the fundamental rights of the citizens are being
trampled upon and where security agencies have become compromised instruments
of oppression in the hands of the ruling party.
So far, bad change that INEC has now lost its independence and the
respect it commanded among electoral stakeholders for fact of nepotism in
appointment of its Chairman; so far, bad change that the National Assembly, the
very citadel of our democracy has fallen under siege by a government which
seeks to appropriate its leadership and erode its constitutional independence.
So far, bad change that the government has reneged on many of its
promises to the people and now seeks to hoodwink them with lies, propaganda and
governance orchestrations. So far, bad change that the people now have to live
with the reality that the government had no intention of providing monthly N5,
000 stipend, allowances to the discharged but unemployed Youth Corps members,
free meals for school children, 100 million jobs, additional 4 million new
homes, and bringing the naira to the same value with the dollar among other
promises for which they were voted for.
As a responsible political party that has sustained democracy in the
last 16 years, we are in good position to understand the growing frustration
and agitation among the people. However, we appreciate the sense of calm by the
citizens especially bearing in mind that this confusion called the APC will end
in the next four years.
Signed:
Chief
Olisa Metuh
National Publicity Secretary
National Publicity Secretary
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