The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Thursday asked President Goodluck Jonathan to stop his aides from making unguarded statements capable of overheating the system, especially with regards to the transition of power.
The party said that the fact that the Peoples Democratic party might be suffering from post-election trauma should not be good reason for it to resort to indecorous activities.
APC, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Abuja on Thursday, described as provocative and ill-intentioned the statement credited to the Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, Prof. Rufai Alkali, that the APC should talk less and plan more for the nation. Alkali had urged the APC not to stampede the President out of office.
According to Mohammed, “Prof. Alkali doesn’t know what he is saying. How does he expect us to plan when the PDP-led FG has bluntly refused to cooperate with us in ensuring a successful transition? As we write, the Transition Committee of the FG has yet to hold a single meeting with our own Transition Committee, neither have they given us a line of handover note.
“As a matter of fact, the Jonathan Administration has said the handover notes will not be ready until the third week of May, meaning just a week before the handover. What time then do we have to scrutinise the handover notes? How can we plan when we don’t even know which projects they have, which ones they have completed and which ones are outstanding? How can we plan when we don’t even know how many barrels of oil are sold per day?”
The fact that Prof. Alkali does not know the difference between Inauguration Committee and Transition Committee is a reflection of mediocrity that permeates the Jonathan Administration and led to its downfall, the APC spokesman stated further..
He aid, “While their Inauguration Committee has been meeting with ours, their Transitional Committee has yet to even meet with ours. How then can Prof. Alkali justify his statement that the Jonathan Administration has been in a ‘transition mode’?
“Is it part of their transition mode that President Jonathan has been engaged in a rash of feverish last-minute appointments that, though may not have breached any known law, are patently in bad faith, morally repugnant and indecorous. They say they are in office until May 29th, but pray, are appointments the only function of a government? Are there no problems crying for attention, such as the intractable fuel scarcity, the worsening power situation, the grounded economy and the missing Chibok girls?”
“Is it part of their transition mode that Jonathan’s Minister of Power has virtually been reading the riot act to the incoming government, condescendingly warning it not to even consider reversing the power sector privatisation because its gains are “very obvious?”. Do they understand the implication of their gratuitous and unsolicited advice? If their power sector reforms have been so successful, would Nigeria’s power situation have hit perhaps its lowest point in a long long time as we have it now?”
The spokesman s said in as much as the Jonathan Administration is bent on provoking the incoming Administration, creating confusion and even sabotaging the transition, the party (APC) has decided not to fall for their antics in the interest of peace.
“They must however realize that being in opposition is not a walk in the park but like running a marathon in the desert where there are no oases or shades. The sooner they realize that the better for them,” it said.
