17th June, 2015
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described as a product of poor thinking and deliberate mischief the statement credited to the so-called PDP Media Watchdog asking President Muhammadu Buhari to resign because of his comments over his age.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said if the authors of the statement had understood simple English, taken the pains to engage in deep thinking and contextualized the comments, they would not have rushed to the press to ask the President to resign.
“What President Buhari was saying, which was lost on those who issued that jejune statement, is that only his love and passion for the country could have made him, at his age, to come out of retirement to seek the office of President, over 30 years after he presided over the affairs of the country.
“For 16 years, Nigerians gave the PDP the benefit of the doubt to move the country forward, but instead, the party put Nigeria in reverse gear at a high speed, spinning it towards a doomsday that was only averted when Nigerians showed the PDP the red card. This is what necessitated President Buhari to continuously seek the country’s highest political office, so he can help put the country on a forward march again. Nothing else matters, not for him the excitement of an office he previously held and the quest for personal accomplishment. If the country had been well managed, President Buhari will not at 72 be crisscrossing the whole world seeking solution to Nigeria’s problems,” it said.
APC said within three weeks of his inauguration, President Buhari has succeeded in returning Nigeria to the comity of nations, to such an extent that world leaders are now so eager to engage him on how to assist his country in key areas, including security and the fight against corruption.
“Within three weeks of President Buhari’s inauguration, he had 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 US has pledged to give $5 million for 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 for Nigeria’s efforts to quell the insurgency.
“Thanks to President Buhari’s shuttle diplomacy, the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) that the PDP government could not bring together for all of six years is ready to deploy next month, while the President has ordered the release of $21 million to facilitate the establishment of the headquarters of the force in N’Djamena, Chad.
“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 politicizing 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.
“On the domestic front, President Buhari has been handling pressing issues far away from the klieg light, and his efforts to assembly a first class team to implement his change mantra, which he is personally driving, are continuing apace. We in the APC, and we 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 party said.
It said only anarchists and non-democrats will ask a President who has not spent one month in office to resign, adding: “It rankles when those making these calls are from the ranks of the party that failed to avail itself creditably in 16 years.”
APC said it has deliberately refused to join issues with the PDP, which has been issuing a series of insipid press statements that showed clearly that the party is not ready to provide a robust opposition to the APC-led federal government
“For the umpteenth time, we say that the PDP and its satellite bodies must realize that in order to be relevant, credible and to make the necessary impact, they must pick on real issues and articulate them intelligently, rather than latching on to trite matters. This very amateurish display won’t get them anywhere,” the party said.