APC: Jonathan trying to evade handover scrutiny

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of delaying the release of his administration’s handover notes, saying the intention is to prevent the in-coming government from scrutinising the notes.

The APC also urged President Jonathan to call his aides to order to stop them from overheating the polity with their “incautious statements”, especially relating to the transition of power.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by Lai Mohammed, its national publicity secretary, APC said that “while the PDP may be deeply traumatised by its loss in the last general election – and the party itself has said it is indeed suffering from ‘post-election(defeat) trauma’ – that should not be a reason for it to disrupt the nation’s peace by displaying crab mentality”.

It described as provocative and ill-intentioned the statement credited to the special adviser to the president on political affairs, Rufai Alkali, that the APC should talk less and plan more for the nation, and that the party (APC) was seeking to stampede the president out of office.

“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,” APC said.

“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 scrutinize 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 party added: “The fact that Alkali does not know the difference between an inauguration committee and a transition committee is a reflection of mediocrity that permeates the Jonathan administration and led to its downfall.

“While their inauguration committee has been meeting with ours, their transitional committee has yet to even meet with ours. How then can 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 29, 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 privatization 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?

“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.”

APC reiterated its earlier advice to the PDP to shake off the trauma of defeat and gear up for the challenging task of being in opposition.

”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 realised that, the better for them.”