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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