President Buhari Embarrassed Nigeria In America - PDP

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 administrator-ship 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 publicized 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 favor, 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.