Buhari’s four weeks in office better than Jonathan’s 5 years, says Lai Mohammed

Lai Mohammed, national publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), believes that the performance of President Muhammadu Buhari in tackling insecurity outweighs that of former President Goodluck Jonathan throughout his five years in office.

Appealing to Nigerians to exercise patience with the current administration, Mohammed blamed the delay in appointing a cabinet on the lack of cooperation of the past administration.

He was speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday.

“It’s been about one month now since President Buhari assumed office, and I can tell you that there has been motion, and there has been movement, contrary to what is being peddled in some quarters,” he said.

“Justifiably, the expectations are high and urgent, and the Buhari administration has started addressing them, despite the enormous challenges that it faces, including an empty treasury and an economy that has virtually collapsed.

“The Buhari administration got the handover notes from the former government just four days before the inauguration, hampering its efforts to have a clear understanding of the situation on the ground before taking the necessary measures to address it.

“If any disease is not appropriately diagnosed, it cannot be effectively treated. Any government that is truly desirous of bringing about real change will not act hastily and without the necessary understanding of what is on ground. coupled with the delay in getting the much-needed information, that takes time.

“The Buhari administration has hit the ground running in the area of security. The president had hardly been sworn into office than he embarked on a shuttle diplomacy to rally Nigeria’s neighbours to act as a common front against the terror group Boko Haram.

“The President travelled to Chad and Niger, and then hosted a summit of the Lake Chad Basin Commission that comprised Cameroon, Chad and Niger, with Benin also invited. President Buhari has also rallied the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) to work with Nigeria in battling the Boko Haram insurgency. A joint summit of leaders of both economic blocs is to be held shortly to concretise these efforts that will complement the one by Nigeria and its neighbours.

“The result is the decision to deploy the Multi National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), with headquarters in N’Djamena, Chad, on July 30th to pep up the fight against Boko Haram! This is the same force that the past administration could not get off the ground in six years!”

Jonathan was president for five years – from 2010 to 2015.