President
Goodluck Jonathan has replied former head of state, Muhammadu Buhari,
over the latter’s stinging statement on Monday, in which he accused him
(Jonathan) of subverting the system and punishing the opposition, saying
it was most unfortunate that the All Progressives Congress chieftain
and his allies have resorted to the blame game instead of working hard
to put their house in order.
Jonathan said, “It is most unfortunate that instead of working to put
their house in order and resolve the leadership crises and internal
contradictions that have plunged their party into a downward spiral,
General Buhari and his opposition allies have resorted to blaming a
blameless President for their woes”.
In a statement issued last night by his Special Adviser on Media and
Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, the president said he received the former
military ruler’s “wild and totally unsustainable allegations” against
him with surprise and regret”.
In a statement which he personally signed on Monday in Kaduna,
Buhari, in his first public reaction to the impeachment of former
Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako and a similar scenario now playing
out in Nasarawa State, urged Jonathan to pull the brakes on his
administration’s runaway train of impunity in the interest of Nigeria’s
survival and the sustenance of the nation’s democracy.
He said: “Our country has gone through several rough patches, but
never before have I seen a Nigerian president declare war on his own
country as we are seeing now. Never before have I seen a Nigerian
president deploy federal institutions in the service of partisanship as
we are witnessing now. Never before have I seen a Nigerian president
utilize the common wealth to subvert the system and punish the
opposition, all in the name of politics”.
But in a swift reaction, the president stressed that he remained
“fully committed to upholding the letters, principles and spirit of the
Nigerian Constitution as he has sworn, and defending the rule of law and
integrity of the democratic process with all his might.
“It may well be time to pull the brakes, as General Buhari says in
his statement, but it is he and others who have resorted to idle
scapegoating and blaming President Jonathan for their self-inflected
political troubles who need to stop their inexcusable partisanship and
show greater regard for the truth, democracy, constitutionalism, the
rule of law, peace, security and the well-being of the nation”, Abati
added.
Noting that Buhari was no more the elder statesman he once commended
him to be, Jonathan said, “Although he tries very hard to deny it in the
statement entitled ‘Pull Nigeria Back From the Brink’, there can be no
doubt that General Buhari has sadly moved away from the patriotic and
statesmanlike position he recently adopted on national security, which
President Jonathan publicly commended, and has now reverted to unbridled
political partisanship.
“We, therefore, urge General Buhari to tarry a while, ponder over his
own antecedents and do a reality check as to whether he has the moral
right to be so carelessly sanctimonious”.
Abati continued, “There can be no other explanation or justification
for the completely unwarranted and very uncharitable assault on the
conduct and integrity of President Jonathan which the statement he
issued represents.
“General Buhari’s main grouse, which clearly motivated his
ill-considered statement, appears to be what he called ‘the gale of
impeachments or the utilisation of desperate tactics to suffocate the
opposition and turn Nigeria into a one-party state’.
“The processes for impeaching an elected governor are clearly
stipulated in the nation’s Constitution which Nigeria has operated since
1999. The president of Nigeria is not assigned any role in that process
and President Jonathan has certainly not played any role in the recent
impeachment of Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa or in the impeachment
drama currently being played out in Nasarawa State”.
On the allegation of plunging the country into a state of anarchy,
Abati said, “General Buhari talks about anarchy; he needs to be reminded
that President Jonathan, from his humble beginnings as a deputy
governor in Bayelsa State to date, has never in his acts, or utterances,
recommended or promoted violence as a tool of political negotiation”.
According to the presidential spokesman, contrary to whatever General
Buhari and his supporters may imagine, President Jonathan fully
respects the rights, powers, authority and independence of elected
representatives of the people, including the members of the state
assemblies who have concluded or initiated impeachment proceedings
against their state governors on grounds which they consider
justifiable.
Defending his principal on the impeachment saga, Abati noted that
“The constitution does not give the President any power to intervene in
such proceedings and President Jonathan has never arrogated such powers
to himself or sought to exert any nefarious and unconstitutional
influence on state assemblies in Adamawa, Nasarawa or anywhere else in
other to secure undue political advantage for his party as General
Buhari unjustifiably alleges.
“President Jonathan remains true to his declaration that no political
ambition of his is worth the life of a single Nigerian. The president
has definitely not declared war on his own country or deployed federal
institutions in the service of partisan interests as General Buhari
falsely claims. Neither has he been using the common wealth to subvert
the system and punish the opposition, as the former head of state
inexcusably asserts.
“Also, President Jonathan has never at any time ordered that any
Nigerian should be kidnapped, or that anyone should be crated and
forcefully transported in violation of decent norms of governance”, he
said, in a veiled reference to the attempted, but unsuccessful abduction
of the Minister of Transport during the Shehu Shagari democratic
administration, late Umaru Dikko from Britain to face corruption charges
in Nigeria during the Buhari-Idiagbon military regime.
Source: Information Nigeria
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