THE Action Congress of Nigeria has described the presidency’s reaction to last week’s visit of the All Progressive Congress governors to Borno State as “uncouth, uncharitable and insulting to Nigerians,” and expressed surprise that anyone would take offense over the decision of Nigerians to visit any part of the 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”.
“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,” the statement added.
“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.
“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.”