APC, Buhari, Atiku Express Outrage over FG, Police’s Lawlessness

General Muhammadu Buhari

•   Presidency, PDP term crisis unfortunate
Chuks Okocha and Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has raised the alarm over what it described as an unbridled show of lawlessness being displayed in the National Assembly by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led federal government under the watchful eye of President Goodluck Jonathan.

The party also accused the president of sabotaging his own administration’s war against Boko Haram on the altar of personal vindictiveness and political desperation, an action that is unbecoming of any self-respecting national leader.

In the same vein, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has slammed the crude methods the Jonathan administration is using to harass and humiliate perceived political enemies.

Speaking on the fracas that broke out on Thursday at the National Assembly when an attempt was made to prevent the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, from entering the legislative chambers, APC National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun expressed fear that the country may fall apart.

“As we sit here, a crisis is brewing in the nation’s National Assembly. The police have virtually taken over the place and tear gas is being used within the chambers of the assembly. This is a further indication of the unbridled and total lawlessness, which is gradually taking over our nation. It is clear that the nation is falling apart before our own very eyes,” he said.

Oyegun, who spoke while inaugurating an eight-member presidential screening committee headed by Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, said henceforth everything the party would do would be in contradiction of “what the PDP is inflicting on the nation today”.

Similarly, the former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari expressed concern over the alleged lockout in the National Assembly by the police, warning of the imminent danger inherent in politicising the security forces.

“If it is true that the speaker was shot at or tear gassed, then those who are supposed to protect the constitution are subverting it. God help us,” he said.

Also commenting, the former vice-president said in a statement from his media office that the “siege mentality” of the Jonathan administration poses a grave threat to Nigeria’s democracy.

“Obviously, the emergency rule has failed to stem the unrest. The federal government must work with, rather than against those who understand and have been elected by the people to govern,” Atiku counselled.

According to Atiku, this crude display of power by the president and his agents portends ominous signs for the future of our democracy, “which is not a surprise as President Jonathan did not participate in the costly struggle that brought our present democracy into being”.

He said the behaviour of the PDP-led government towards Tambuwal was not decent and acceptable under a president that has committed himself to upholding the rule of law.

“This crisis highlights the absolute failure of the current PDP’s idea of government: arrogant, indifferent and incompetent,” Atiku asserted.

The former vice-president stated that the abuse of power by using state agents to harass, intimidate and humiliate perceived opponents by the president was not only capable of heating the polity to a frightening scale, but also carried the risk of polarising and politicising security operatives in the country.

He reminded the president that he was elected to uphold the constitution of the country, and not to use power arbitrarily against political opponents.

The former vice-president advised the president to practise what he preaches by not heating up the polity, an accusation he always directs at opposition politicians.

“What is happening at the National Assembly, taken together with what unfolded today (Thursday) at the Ekiti House of Assembly, is totally strange. It is not the democracy we fought for; for which many of our compatriots paid for with their lives. These free-riders should not be allowed to destroy what others built with their sweat and blood.

“It is not too late, however, for President Jonathan to pull the plug on these assaults to our democracy because it is inconceivable that the show of shame at the National Assembly is what he wanted have as a birthday present,” Atiku said.

APC: Jonathan is Sabotaging War against Insurgency

In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said just because the president was so desperate to oust Tambuwal as the Speaker, he ensured that the House could not meet as scheduled to consider his request for an extension of emergency rule in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States.

“For a president who has severally stated his administration's commitment to the battle against the insurgency in the North-east, is it not a cruel irony that he allowed his personal ego and political desperation to override his sense of propriety, by moving to have Hon. Tambuwal removed instead of having the House of Representatives sit to consider his request?

“Does anyone need any more evidence that the president’s sole preoccupation is how to win the 2015 elections, rather than the fate of the hundreds of Nigerians who are daily being killed and maimed at the epicentre of the insurgency?

“Had he been genuinely committed to the fight against the insurgents, would the president not have allowed the House to sit to consider his request? How does he feel now that the entire National Assembly has been shut down because of his capricious action?” the party queried.

APC said because of his meddlesomeness in the affairs of another arm of government, and also his blatant disregard for a court order that the status quo be maintained on the issue of the defection of the speaker to the APC, the president yesterday suffered a moral and political defeat that would hunt him for a long time to come.

“The plot was simple: The presidency decided to use the reconvening of the House as an opportunity to remove the speaker. While Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha was accorded a presidential ride into the premises of the National Assembly, House Speaker Tambuwal was barred from entering by the hordes of security agents who has been deployed solely for that purpose.

“Their plan was to ensure that with Tambuwal locked out, Ihedioha would preside over the reconvened House and the speaker will then be removed. The consideration of the request to extend the state of emergency was not important to the Presidency.

“The fate of the Nigerians who are suffering from the insurgency, which has displaced 1.5 million people does not bother the presidency. All it wanted is to remove Tambuwal.

“However, the plan failed as members of the House overpowered the security personnel and the speaker was led on foot into the chambers, even as a rain of tear gas fell on them.

“In the end, the president himself sabotaged his administration’s tepid war on terror, and he got himself a birthday gift he didn’t bargain for: a humiliating political defeat that played out on national television. This is a clear reminder that there is always a limit to impunity!” the party said.

APC said because it was clear that history is not a forte of this presidency, it (presidency) needed to be reminded that the kind of crisis it is willfully instigating in the National Assembly helped to truncate the First Republic in the early 1960s.

The party said the crisis instigated by the Jonathan administration at the National Assembly showed the prescience of the “APC's Salvation Rally” in Abuja a day earlier to protest the runaway impunity, corruption, poor governance, anti-democratic tendencies and win-elections-at-all-costs disposition of the administration.

“We have said it before and we will restate it: It’s Jonathan first, Jonathan second, Jonathan third, Jonathan always for this president. If not, why will he be more interested in playing politics with the lives and blood of our sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters who are suffering untold hardships in the hands of Boko Haram, especially in the North-east?

“Because of his ambition to be re-elected at all cost, President Jonathan is ready to throw Nigeria into crisis. He is ready to bring Nigeria down. He has presided over an unprecedented assault on democratic institutions. He has presided over the desecration of national institutions, especially the police.

“Is it right for the police to be trampling on the constitution? Is it right for the Inspector-General of Police, apparently acting under orders from the president, to deploy the police to prevent the speaker from entering the House? Why on earth would you not allow the speaker of the House, who is still seen as such by the law, to enter the House?

“What would have happened if the speaker had refused to reconvene the House? Wouldn't Nigerians have said he is putting his personal interest above national interest?” APC demanded to know.

APC said surely, Nigeria is in clear and present danger from the inordinate ambition of Jonathan to run for a second term, and called on all men and women of goodwill to speak out before a “desperate president brings the country down on all Nigerians”.

PDP to APC: Leave Jonathan Out of Your Woes

However, reacting to APC’s statement, the ruling PDP yesterday asked APC to leave the president out of the problems rocking the House, stating that as the elected representative of the people, the president could be blamed for APC’s woes.

The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, said: “Every Nigerian knows clearly that PDP as a political party does not remote control its members. We don't believe in interfering in the affairs of the National Assembly as a parliament, let alone the House of Representatives.

“PDP believes that as elected adults, they are responsible for their action and it would be unfair to lay such blames on the president. The members are capable of taking decisions as adults.

“We are operating a democracy and there are three arms of government and National Assembly, and indeed the House of Representatives is part of the legislative arm of  government. There are crises in other states and the president cannot be blamed for such crises.”

On the APC’s allegation that the president was sabotaging the war against insurgency, Metuh said: “You know that it is a baseless allegation and not founded on any logic. Those who are playing politics with the insurgency know themselves, but certainly not this administration led by President Jonathan.”
PDP maintained that there should be a limit to politics, as the president has repeatedly said that his political ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian.

It also described as embarrassing the violence exhibited by some lawmakers, which led to the closure of the National Assembly, even as it distanced itself and the presidency from the development.

Metuh said the lawmakers are responsible adults elected by their constituencies, wondering what might have happened if the law enforcement agencies were not there to maintain law and order.

The PDP described the incident as unfortunate and cautioned that the parliament, being the nucleus of democracy, its members should be above board as Nigerians expect the best behaviour from them.

Presidency: Crisis was Unfortunate

The presidency, however, had a more measured reaction to the incident in the House, describing the attempt to lock out the speaker and the tear gassing of the National Assembly by the police as “unfortunate”.

The president’s Senior Special Assistant, Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, at media briefing said: “The whole scenario as we witnessed it is rather unfortunate. We wish that at all times, national interest should supersede all other interests including personal and political interests.

“From the government’s perspective, the overriding concern today is the issue of insurgency which necessitated the request by Mr. President that the National Assembly considers an extension of the state of emergency to give the security forces the needed legal framework and space for a successful prosecution of the war against Boko Haram terrorists.

“It is our hope that the honourable members of the House of Representatives will use the period of adjournment to resolve all matters so that they can resume to deliberate and act on issues of national importance.”

Source: ThisDaylive