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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