APC on COVID-19: Nigerians want a working president — not a talker

The All Progressives Congress (APC) says a majority of Nigerians want a working president but that only a few want one who talks.

President Muhammadu Buhari has been criticised for not addressing citizens since the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

In a statement on Saturday, Lanre Issa-Onilu, APC spokesman, said the “grand efforts” by Buhari in tackling the virus could be seen by Nigerians.

Issa-Onilu said under the supervision of Buhari there is a “proactive network of national response structures working in tandem with all states”.

“A few Nigerians want a President whose preoccupation is talking, while the majority voted for a President who is deploying his energy to working. We all can see the effect of the grand efforts being led by President Muhammadu Buhari to contain the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic in Nigeria,” he said.

“The efficiency of the field workers and other state actors has ensured we are able to minimize the spread so far with many states taking proactive steps to forestall wide spread of the very infectious virus.

“We are glad to see many Nigerians rallying behind the President with their own contributions. Notably, the news of the ministers’ voluntary donation of 50 percent of their March salary is unprecedented. We commend the foresight of the Minister of State for Transportation, Sen. Gbemisola Saraki in coordinating this patriotic action.

“Beyond the monetary donation, the gesture by the ministers would bolster confidence of ordinary Nigerians to call up the resilience for which we are known for. It would also encourage many more organisations and other well-to-do Nigerians to lend support to the presidential committee.”

Issa-Onilu said those “wailers” who have been wishing death on the president since 2015 have again found their voices amid the coronavirus outbreak.

“From conjuring and spreading fake news on the president’s coronavirus test result, to spurious allegations of hijacking of a teaching hospital ventilator to the villa and to the purported smuggling of the President to the United Kingdom, they are up to their ignominious pastime and tired antics,” he said.

“We will not be distracted or deterred because their unpatriotic actions serve as a reminder to the failed and rejected past. Right now, the task before us is for all Nigerians to focus and collectively beat the coronavirus.”

Nigeria has so far recorded 81 cases of the disease and one death.