Action
Congress of Nigeria has described as “uncouth, uncharitable and
insulting to Nigerians,” Presidency’s reaction to last week’s visit of
the All Progressive Congress governors to Borno State.
The ACN wondered when it became an offence for Nigerians to visit any other part of their country.
In a statement on Wednesday by its
National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the
Presidency’s reaction could only be “likened to the antics of a
punch-drunk boxer who, having been knocked out by his opponent, suddenly
got up and started punching the referee whom he mistook for the guy,
who knocked him out”.
It added, “There is no doubt that the
visit of the governors was a knock-out for the waffling Presidency. Now
punch-drunk, the clearly disoriented Presidency has resorted to blaming
the courageous and trail-blazing governors, whose only offence is that
they dared to show solidarity with the people of Borno and Yobe, the two
states that have been worst-hit by the Boko Haram crisis.
“These governors dismissed the
Presidency’s shameless attempt to scare them away from Borno State with a
cooked security report. They walked around the volatile Maiduguri
market without bullet proof vests or helmets, to the chagrin of the
President and Commander-in-Chief, who has opted to hide behind the Aso
Rock fortress.”
ACN said for the Presidency now to
choose to denigrate the governors and accuse them of “crass opportunism”
was the height of irresponsibility.
The party said, “Most laughable is the
accusation that the governors preempted the visit of President Goodluck
Jonathan to Borno State. Whom did the Presidency inform of his impending
visit? When did it become the business of governors to tailor their
movements to those of the President? Where has the President been since
2011 when he assumed office after his election? What took him so long to
visit a troubled part of the country, especially since he claimed to
have received a pan-Nigeria mandate?
“The truth is that the visit of the
governors has so embarrassed the President that he quickly packaged his
own visit. Instead of quietly licking its wounds, the Presidency opted
to dance naked in the market square by accusing those, who blazed the
trail, who showed the way to a clueless and visionless Federal
Government.”
Meanwhile, Conference of Nigerian
Political Parties on Wednesday hailed governors of the APC for their
visit to Maiduguri last week.
“It is a wake-up call to President Goodluck Jonathan,” the group said.
A statement by the party’s National
Publicity Secretary, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, stated, “There is no doubt
that the visit has restored their hope, reassured them and created a
sense of belonging that the nation has not abandoned them; especially
when President Jonathan did not deem it fit to visit the areas of
conflict in the last two years.”
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