PDP blasts Presidency over absence at UN meeting
Chief Olisa Metuh
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
yesterday lambasted the presidency over the
absence of the nation at the meetings at the
70th United Nations General Assembly in New
York, where the issue of humanitarian crisis
arising from the insurgency in Lake Chad
countries was the main agenda.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief
Olisa Metuh, speaking on Monday at a press
conference at the PDP National Secretariat,
Abuja, said this slip further asserts the
ineptitude of the handlers of the President on
national and international issues.
The press statement which was titled; ‘The
Decline of Democratic Ideals,’ also lamented
that the APC-led government was moving the
nation from democracy to autocracy and
attempting to impose a sole administratorship
in all spheres of the polity.
The PDP said the, “The recent case of the
absence of Nigeria at one of the key listed
meetings at the 70th United Nations General
Assembly in New York, where the issue of
humanitarian crisis arising from the
insurgency in Lake Chad countries including
our country was the main agenda, further
asserts the ineptitude of the handlers of the
President on national and international issues.
“At home, what satiates these elements
around the President is exhibiting hazardous
signs such as executive arrogance, flagrant
abuse of power, constitutional violations,
assault on democratic institutions,
compromising of judicial processes, invasion
of state government and personal houses,
harassment of citizens and the deliberate
suffocation of the middle class.”
The PDP also accused the federal government
of exhibiting alleged totalitarian approach to
governance with its reluctance to institute a
cabinet four months’ after being sworn in
May.
“This has resulted in the government
conveying dictatorial inclinations as amply
exhibited in its adamant stance in running a
government without the statutory component
of an executive cabinet, even when the
negative consequences of this strange
totalitarian approach are taking serious toll on
the polity.
“Also, the stance goes a long way to show
that the flip-flopped promise of our President
to name a cabinet, a deadline which he
shifted from two weeks of assumption of
office to end of September, is actually a
reluctant pledge and done under great duress.
“From his hesitancy and comments, it is
deducible that President Buhari never
intended to appoint ministers but rather
prefers to run a monocracy and evidently
does not value or respect those he would
nominate as ministers.
“Otherwise, how can anyone repackage the
mindset of the President when he, in an
interview with France 24 Television in France,
stated categorically that his preference is to
rule without a cabinet and denigrated
ministers as ‘noise makers,’ and of no
importance or value in the running of an
administration?
“Given this worrisome outlook, it is obvious
that the Presidency would not attach any
value or importance to the ministers under the
‘new sheriff.’ Could this also be part of the
reason for the relentless onslaught against the
National Assembly, which must be weakened
and prevented from playing its constitutional
role of checks and balances in the system?
“Whilst we reserve our comments on the
numerous gaffes by the Nigerian delegation at
the 70th United Nation’s General Assembly
Meeting, we decry the huge embarrassment
caused by the delegation’s dereliction of duty,
profusely manifested in the snubbing of a
crucial meeting where countries affected by
Boko Haram insurgency sought international
assistance for millions displaced by the
scourge.
“Whereas, other affected Chad basin countries
were fully represented and had fruitful
discussions with officials of the world body,
the government of Nigeria, which has the
biggest challenge of displaced persons, was
nowhere to be found.
“Much more pathetic and shocking, but very
revealing of the insincerity and ineptitude of
those around the President was the
disconcerting excuse by an aide of the
President in trying to explain away this
blunder.
“Instead of admitting failure and apologizing
to Nigerians, the Presidency sought to
hoodwink the public by claiming that the
meeting was not one of the official events for
which the President and his delegation are in
New York, only for the official brochure of the
meeting tagged, “High Level Event on the
Lake Chad Basin”, to show that “high level
representation from the government of
Nigeria” was scheduled to make contributions
at the meeting.”
The PDP said, “reports indicate that due to
the importance of that meeting, it was
broadcast on United Nations’ official online
television and radio channels, while officials
of world bodies have continued to register
their disappointment in our country due to the
incompetence of the APC-led government.
“It is disheartening to note that the same
meeting the President Buhari-led delegation
shunned actually yielded a fall out of $6.8
million announced by the United States as
funding for regional aid efforts.
“If not for possible insensitivity to the plight of
those affected by insurgency, what other
reason has this government for its absence
from such a crucial meeting aimed to find
ways of bringing relief to its displaced
citizens?
“This is especially as the delegation to the UN
General Assembly Meeting achieved nothing,
reminiscent of the July much hyped visit to
the US, which also brought nothing but
diplomatic disagreements, also due to the
ineptitude of the APC-led federal government.
“Even more disturbing is the diplomatic mix-
up, which resulted in the breach of protocol,
crass ineptitude and monumental
embarrassment in the late appearance of the
President during the head of Vatican’s
meeting with other world leaders.
“This is most damaging to the image of the
country, especially as we note that the
damage did not arise out of disrespect for the
head of Vatican, the Pope but due to the
incompetence of those around our beloved
President.
“Whereas, we have in the past stated our
support for efforts towards the fight against
insurgency, we wish to register our deep
concern regarding the clear show of
unseriousness on the part of the present
administration in tackling this problem and
bringing succor to affected persons.
“It is depressing to note that apart from the
efforts by the Goodluck Jonathan-led PDP
administration in training, military hardware
and fortifying the country’s military before
leaving office in May, no tangible investment
has been made by the present administration
in that direction due to its apparent lack of
focus.
“The fallout is the resurgence of terrorists who
were, before the May 29th handover date,
already pushed to the verge of surrender in
the Sambisa forest.
“But for the resilience of our military, who
have effectively applied the equipment and
training sourced under the watch of the PDP
government, insurgents would have taken
greater hold of our nation by now.
“Even as we await the ministers already
discredited by the person appointing them, we
call on this administration to quickly gauge
the mood of the nation and move fast to stem
the sliding tide in virtually all segments of our
national life by ensuring that it takes the
national interest more seriously and curtail its
show of impunity, abuse of power and the
tampering of the independence of the judiciary
as being celebrated by the APC in claiming
manipulation of the various elections tribunals
in the land.
“We therefore use this medium to draw the
attention of the Chief Justice of Nigeria to
various complaints by PDP members
regarding the application of undue
technicalities to deny them justice in elections
tribunals and relevant courts.
“The special case in point is the manipulation
of the processes in the governorship elections
tribunals in Plateau and Imo states, where
APC stole our mandates and is now applying
all manner of tactics to arm-twist the judiciary
and manipulate the proceedings by wounding
down the clock, thereby preventing the
hearing of the merit of PDP cases in those
states until the expiration of the stipulated 180
days.
“Our complaints derives from the fact that the
APC is already boasting of being in control of
the judiciary as a tool to take over states won
by the PDP in the general elections especially,
Akwa-Ibom, Rivers, Taraba, Delta as well as
Imo and Plateau states.
“We therefore hope that the recent decision of
the Court of Appeal sitting in Jos, reversing
the ruling of the Governorship Election
Tribunal in Plateau State, admitting into
evidence INEC-certified electoral documents,
expert evidence and report, following a joint
inspection of the documents by parties to the
petition, as ordered by the tribunal itself, is not
the direct result of the arm-twisting of the
judiciary by the APC.
“This is especially so when the APC, who at
the moment claims victory at the election,
offered not a shred of evidence to contradict
the INEC-certified documents and expert
evidence and report emanating from it as
presented by the PDP in the two states, Imo
and Plateau.
“The most disturbing aspect of this perhaps is
in Imo state, where the merit of the PDP
petition in the tribunal was not heard but
thrown out on technicalities and being
frustrated from being heard.
“Finally, while we restate our commitment
towards issues based opposition at all times,
we call on Nigerians to be on the alert and
join us in resisting hawks around the
Presidency from derailing our democracy
through their divisive, parochial and anti-
democratic actions and interests.”
Chief Olisa Metuh
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
yesterday lambasted the presidency over the
absence of the nation at the meetings at the
70th United Nations General Assembly in New
York, where the issue of humanitarian crisis
arising from the insurgency in Lake Chad
countries was the main agenda.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief
Olisa Metuh, speaking on Monday at a press
conference at the PDP National Secretariat,
Abuja, said this slip further asserts the
ineptitude of the handlers of the President on
national and international issues.
The press statement which was titled; ‘The
Decline of Democratic Ideals,’ also lamented
that the APC-led government was moving the
nation from democracy to autocracy and
attempting to impose a sole administratorship
in all spheres of the polity.
The PDP said the, “The recent case of the
absence of Nigeria at one of the key listed
meetings at the 70th United Nations General
Assembly in New York, where the issue of
humanitarian crisis arising from the
insurgency in Lake Chad countries including
our country was the main agenda, further
asserts the ineptitude of the handlers of the
President on national and international issues.
“At home, what satiates these elements
around the President is exhibiting hazardous
signs such as executive arrogance, flagrant
abuse of power, constitutional violations,
assault on democratic institutions,
compromising of judicial processes, invasion
of state government and personal houses,
harassment of citizens and the deliberate
suffocation of the middle class.”
The PDP also accused the federal government
of exhibiting alleged totalitarian approach to
governance with its reluctance to institute a
cabinet four months’ after being sworn in
May.
“This has resulted in the government
conveying dictatorial inclinations as amply
exhibited in its adamant stance in running a
government without the statutory component
of an executive cabinet, even when the
negative consequences of this strange
totalitarian approach are taking serious toll on
the polity.
“Also, the stance goes a long way to show
that the flip-flopped promise of our President
to name a cabinet, a deadline which he
shifted from two weeks of assumption of
office to end of September, is actually a
reluctant pledge and done under great duress.
“From his hesitancy and comments, it is
deducible that President Buhari never
intended to appoint ministers but rather
prefers to run a monocracy and evidently
does not value or respect those he would
nominate as ministers.
“Otherwise, how can anyone repackage the
mindset of the President when he, in an
interview with France 24 Television in France,
stated categorically that his preference is to
rule without a cabinet and denigrated
ministers as ‘noise makers,’ and of no
importance or value in the running of an
administration?
“Given this worrisome outlook, it is obvious
that the Presidency would not attach any
value or importance to the ministers under the
‘new sheriff.’ Could this also be part of the
reason for the relentless onslaught against the
National Assembly, which must be weakened
and prevented from playing its constitutional
role of checks and balances in the system?
“Whilst we reserve our comments on the
numerous gaffes by the Nigerian delegation at
the 70th United Nation’s General Assembly
Meeting, we decry the huge embarrassment
caused by the delegation’s dereliction of duty,
profusely manifested in the snubbing of a
crucial meeting where countries affected by
Boko Haram insurgency sought international
assistance for millions displaced by the
scourge.
“Whereas, other affected Chad basin countries
were fully represented and had fruitful
discussions with officials of the world body,
the government of Nigeria, which has the
biggest challenge of displaced persons, was
nowhere to be found.
“Much more pathetic and shocking, but very
revealing of the insincerity and ineptitude of
those around the President was the
disconcerting excuse by an aide of the
President in trying to explain away this
blunder.
“Instead of admitting failure and apologizing
to Nigerians, the Presidency sought to
hoodwink the public by claiming that the
meeting was not one of the official events for
which the President and his delegation are in
New York, only for the official brochure of the
meeting tagged, “High Level Event on the
Lake Chad Basin”, to show that “high level
representation from the government of
Nigeria” was scheduled to make contributions
at the meeting.”
The PDP said, “reports indicate that due to
the importance of that meeting, it was
broadcast on United Nations’ official online
television and radio channels, while officials
of world bodies have continued to register
their disappointment in our country due to the
incompetence of the APC-led government.
“It is disheartening to note that the same
meeting the President Buhari-led delegation
shunned actually yielded a fall out of $6.8
million announced by the United States as
funding for regional aid efforts.
“If not for possible insensitivity to the plight of
those affected by insurgency, what other
reason has this government for its absence
from such a crucial meeting aimed to find
ways of bringing relief to its displaced
citizens?
“This is especially as the delegation to the UN
General Assembly Meeting achieved nothing,
reminiscent of the July much hyped visit to
the US, which also brought nothing but
diplomatic disagreements, also due to the
ineptitude of the APC-led federal government.
“Even more disturbing is the diplomatic mix-
up, which resulted in the breach of protocol,
crass ineptitude and monumental
embarrassment in the late appearance of the
President during the head of Vatican’s
meeting with other world leaders.
“This is most damaging to the image of the
country, especially as we note that the
damage did not arise out of disrespect for the
head of Vatican, the Pope but due to the
incompetence of those around our beloved
President.
“Whereas, we have in the past stated our
support for efforts towards the fight against
insurgency, we wish to register our deep
concern regarding the clear show of
unseriousness on the part of the present
administration in tackling this problem and
bringing succor to affected persons.
“It is depressing to note that apart from the
efforts by the Goodluck Jonathan-led PDP
administration in training, military hardware
and fortifying the country’s military before
leaving office in May, no tangible investment
has been made by the present administration
in that direction due to its apparent lack of
focus.
“The fallout is the resurgence of terrorists who
were, before the May 29th handover date,
already pushed to the verge of surrender in
the Sambisa forest.
“But for the resilience of our military, who
have effectively applied the equipment and
training sourced under the watch of the PDP
government, insurgents would have taken
greater hold of our nation by now.
“Even as we await the ministers already
discredited by the person appointing them, we
call on this administration to quickly gauge
the mood of the nation and move fast to stem
the sliding tide in virtually all segments of our
national life by ensuring that it takes the
national interest more seriously and curtail its
show of impunity, abuse of power and the
tampering of the independence of the judiciary
as being celebrated by the APC in claiming
manipulation of the various elections tribunals
in the land.
“We therefore use this medium to draw the
attention of the Chief Justice of Nigeria to
various complaints by PDP members
regarding the application of undue
technicalities to deny them justice in elections
tribunals and relevant courts.
“The special case in point is the manipulation
of the processes in the governorship elections
tribunals in Plateau and Imo states, where
APC stole our mandates and is now applying
all manner of tactics to arm-twist the judiciary
and manipulate the proceedings by wounding
down the clock, thereby preventing the
hearing of the merit of PDP cases in those
states until the expiration of the stipulated 180
days.
“Our complaints derives from the fact that the
APC is already boasting of being in control of
the judiciary as a tool to take over states won
by the PDP in the general elections especially,
Akwa-Ibom, Rivers, Taraba, Delta as well as
Imo and Plateau states.
“We therefore hope that the recent decision of
the Court of Appeal sitting in Jos, reversing
the ruling of the Governorship Election
Tribunal in Plateau State, admitting into
evidence INEC-certified electoral documents,
expert evidence and report, following a joint
inspection of the documents by parties to the
petition, as ordered by the tribunal itself, is not
the direct result of the arm-twisting of the
judiciary by the APC.
“This is especially so when the APC, who at
the moment claims victory at the election,
offered not a shred of evidence to contradict
the INEC-certified documents and expert
evidence and report emanating from it as
presented by the PDP in the two states, Imo
and Plateau.
“The most disturbing aspect of this perhaps is
in Imo state, where the merit of the PDP
petition in the tribunal was not heard but
thrown out on technicalities and being
frustrated from being heard.
“Finally, while we restate our commitment
towards issues based opposition at all times,
we call on Nigerians to be on the alert and
join us in resisting hawks around the
Presidency from derailing our democracy
through their divisive, parochial and anti-
democratic actions and interests.”
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