The All Progressives Congress says President Muhammadu Buhari has already surpassed President Goodluck Jonathan’s achievements in the area of fighting insecurity.
Alhaji Lai Mohammed
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The National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said in a statement that Buhari had done in three weeks what Jonathan could not do in six years.
The party said the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government could not get world powers to help Nigeria in fighting terrorism. It said within a short time, the Buhari administration would wipe out terrorism
The statement read, “Within three weeks of President Buhari’s inauguration, he has done what the PDP government could not do in six years: Invigorate the fight against Boko Haram by rallying a regional and global front against the terror group.
“Today, the United States has pledged $5 million to the fight against Boko Haram, in addition to other material support. This is apart from the support that has been pledged by the G-7 to strengthen Nigeria’s efforts to quell the insurgency.
“Thanks to President Buhari’s shuttle diplomacy, the Multi-National Joint Task Force that the PDP government could not bring together for all of six years is ready to deploy more soldiers next month, while the President has ordered the release of $21m to facilitate the establishment of the headquarters of the force in N’Djamena, Chad.”
The APC said Buhari had been able to restore Nigeria’s integrity and that many countries were beginning to respect Nigeria again.
It said the PDP-led Federal Government politicised the fight against terrorism and that was why it failed to protect Nigeria’s integrity.
The statement added, “Since assuming office about three weeks ago, President Buhari has visited Chad, Niger, Germany and South Africa, winning support and friends for Nigeria all over again and returning the country to the comity of respected nations.
“Those who were put off by the PDP government’s resort to politicising the fight against Boko Haram – even as the insurgents grew stronger – are now joining President Buhari to battle the terrorists. In no distant future, the results of his tireless efforts will begin to show.”
The party said even though Buhari was far older than Jonathan, he was already doing better than him.
It said Buhari was already assembling a team of highly skilled professionals that would help him to implement his promise of change.
It said, “On the domestic front, President Buhari has been handling pressing issues far away from the klieg light, and his efforts to assemble a first-class team to implement his change mantra, which he is personally driving, are continuing apace.
“We in the APC are sure most unbiased Nigerians are very proud of President Buhari and the vigour he has shown in governance, the kind of vigour we did not see in the immediate past administration that was presided over by a far younger man.”
The APC said only anarchists and non-democrats would ask a President who has not spent one month in office to resign.
It said the PDP had no moral right to criticise the APC within less than month of Buhari’s administration since the PDP had failed to make any meaningful change in Nigeria despite being the party to have ruled Nigeria the longest – 16 years.
However, the PDP charged the APC and the Presidency to stop making mockery of governance with premature celebration of imaginary achievements.
The PDP said it was embarrassing that the APC and aides to President Buhari had decided to invade the minds of Nigerians with propaganda instead of assisting the President, who was inaugurated three weeks ago, to settle down, form a government and deliver on his campaign promises to the electorates.
The opposition party wondered why it was difficult for the APC-led Federal Government to appoint even a Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Chief of Staff to the President.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement in Abuja, said the nation and democrats world over were thoroughly embarrassed by the alleged achievements claimed by the APC.
He said this action had further exposed the APC’s lack of capacity and direction as well as its inability to draw a line between propaganda by an opposition party and dissemination of credible information as a party in government.
Metuh said, “How can a serious government start shouting achievements and make bogus claims on the fight against terrorism when the effort is apparently losing steam as insurgents, who had already been pushed to the verge of surrender in the Sambisa forest by the (ex-President) Goodluck Jonathan administration are now surging back into the country under the APC-led government?
“How can a serious government shout achievement based on pledges by foreign interests, a dangerous slide towards neo-colonialism, instead of settling down to galvanise bequeathed resources and potential that have already placed our great country as one of the fastest emerging economic and political powers in the world?
“How can a serious government shout achievement and attempt to explain away the untidy fact that after three weeks, it has not been able to organise itself even to take basic steps of conventional appointments, such as Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief of Staff to the President and advisers in key sectors of the economy?”
He wondered what the APC was celebrating, alleging that due to its naivety and delays, key sectors of the nation’s economy were allegedly drifting dangerously with “a perilous crippling of foreign and domestic investments, including activities in the money and capital market sectors.”
Metuh said that the APC should not by any means attempt to use its flimsy list to divert attention from its numerous campaign promises for which the people will be holding the party accountable.
“Finally, we advise the Presidential spokespersons to allow Nigerians to judge the President as events and time will prove exactly the taste of the old wine,” Metuh added.\
copyright – Punch
