GEJ replies Gen Buhari over his statement on the current state of the nation
In a statement which was signed by Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati, president Jonathan asked Buhari not to blame him for the woes his party, the APC, is going through. Find President Jonathan's statement below and what General Buhari said in his statement to President Jonathan after the cut...
President Jonathan's statement below...
Although he tries very hard to deny it in the statement titled “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 have noted with much surprise and regret, the statement issued by General Muhammadu Buhari today in which he made some wild and totally unsustainable allegations against President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
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 today 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”.
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.
The processes for impeaching an
elected Governor are clearly stipulated in the National 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.
For the record, President remains
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.
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.
Contrary to whatever General
Buhari and his new friends 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.
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.
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.
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.
Reuben Abati
Special Adviser to the President
Gen Muhammad Buhari's statement in part;
Whether or not President Goodluck Jonathan is behind the gale of impeachment or the utilization of desperate tactics to suffocate the opposition and turn Nigeria into a one-party state, what cannot be denied is that they are happening under his watch, and he cannot pretend not to know, since that will be akin to hiding behind one finger.
“In my capacity as an elder statesman, rather than a politician, I have spoken to President Jonathan in private over these issues, but indications are that the strategy has not yielded positive fruits. I cannot, just because I am an opposition politician, fail to do what is expected of me as an elder statesman to help rescue our nation in times of great trouble and palpable uncertainty.
“History will not be kind to me if I sit back while things turn bad, just so that no one will accuse me of partisanship. Yes, I am a politician. Yes, I am in the opposition. Yes, there is the tendency for my statement to be misconstrued as that of a politician rather than a statesman. But I owe it as a matter of duty and honour, and in the interest of our nation, to speak out on the dangerous trajectory that our nation is heading.
“I can say, in all sincerity, that I have seen it all, as an ordinary citizen, a military officer, a head of state, a man who has occupied many other sensitive posts and a politician. I have been a close participant and witness to Nigeria’s political history since independence in 1960.
“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 commonwealth to subvert the system and punish the opposition, all in the name of politics. Our nation has suffered serious consequences in the past for egregious acts that are not even close to what we are seeing now. It is time to pull the brakes,”
“The dangerous clouds are beginning to gather and the vultures are circling, and these have manifested in Nasarawa where the ordinary people have defied guns and tanks to protest the plan to impeach Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura in a repeat of the bitter medicine forced down the throat of Governor Murtala Nyako.
“The people’s protest in Nassarawa is a sign of what will come if the federal authorities continue to target opposition state governors for impeachment. In the long run, the impeachment weapon will be blunted. Positions will become more hardened on both sides and Nigeria and Nigerians will become the victims of arrested governance and possible anarchy.”
“I, along with many other patriotic Nigerians, fought for the unity and survival of this country. Hundreds of patriotic souls perished in the battle to keep Nigeria one. The blood of many of our compatriots helped to water the birth of the democracy we are all enjoying today.
“Let no one, whether the leader or the led, the high or the low, a member of the ruling or the opposition do anything to torpedo the system. Let no one, whether on the altar of personal ambition or pretension to higher patriotic tendencies, do anything that can detonate the keg of gunpowder on which the nation is sitting. It is time for all concerned to spare a thought for the ordinary citizens who have yet to see their hopes, dreams and aspirations come to reality, within the general context of nationhood,’’ the statement read
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