Group criticises Omokri over comment on Osinbajo

The Initiative to Save Democracy has accused Reno Omokri, a former aide of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, of misleading the immediate past president when he was in office.

In a statement by Peter Olaleye, publicity secretary of the group, the initiative criticised Omokri for asking Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo to stand up against President Muhammadu Buhari over the directive that ministers should pass correspondences and meeting proposals through Abba Kyari, chief of staff to the president.

The group said making such a call did not only show that Omokri “lacked an understanding of governance at the presidential level but it also reflected the way and manner in which the Jonathan government was run without any institutional practices and order”.

“We have read Reno Omokri’s constant attempt to politicise governance processes, especially his recent tirade at the Vice President. In our view, Omokri has opened himself, the government of Jonathan where he served and his party up to the perfect counter-uppercut,” the statement read.

“Because by lambasting the president’s instruction to streamline administrative processes in adherence to global democratic executive standards, they are once again exposing and celebrating their own wayward governance systems of old in which presidential governance was a jungle-like wilderness in which everyone who could whisper to the President could adjust his actions or inactions which is largely responsible for the massive corruption and underdevelopment known of their administration which we are still dealing with.”

The Initiative to Save Democracy added that the instruction given to ministers is to ensure that there is order and guided flow of the president’s activities.

“Does one expect the President to receive his ministers anytime and whenever they wanted to? Would that not be a recipe for chaos and insanity?” the group asked.

“There must follow a pattern in every institution, in which the head of the institution is accessed, correspondences sent and meetings scheduled. This was clearly not the case with the Jonathan administration. If we recall, it was during that administration that rumours flew round about how top government officials were going to the Central Bank with notes from the President to collect hard currencies for campaign activities. Reno Omokri’s recent comment only confirm this.”