This secret itinerary must stop, says PDP on Buhari’s ‘technical stopover’

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says President Muhammadu Buhari’s “technical stopover” in the UK is a constitutional breach.

Buhari left the US on Tuesday after meeting with President Donald Trump and some top businessmen.

However, has has not been seen in Nigeria since then.

Reacting to complaints over the president’s absence, Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, said Buhari had a technical stopover in London.

But in a statement on Thursday, Kola Ologbondiyan, spokesman of the PDP, said there is worry over the president’s “secret itinerary”.

“President Buhari left the United States 48 hours ago and embarked on an unofficial visit to United Kingdom for undisclosed reasons without transmitting a letter to the national assembly. This is impunity and another constitutional breach,” the statement read.

“President Buhari on Tuesday left the United States, where he had an embarrassing and fruitless outing and instead of returning to the country, detoured to the UK for another private visit without regard to full disclosure requirements of our constitution and laws.

“Indeed, Nigerians are worried about the signal being sent out by this penchant for secret itinerary, particularly, given the poor reputation and governance transparency issues confronting our nation under the Buhari administration.

“The presidency must understand that president Buhari is not a private citizen and as long as his upkeep and itineary is sourced from our hard-earned resources, there must be full disclosure, as citizens deserve to know the purpose of the visit and the cost to our nation.”

Ologbondiyan said the president’s foreign trips has not brought the country any benefits.

“Instead, the President has continued to de-market our nation in the international arena. The just concluded the Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London, where he cast aspersion at our enterprising youths and failed to return with any dividend readily comes to mind,” it read.

“Furthermore, president Buhari’s admission at the Voice of America (VOA) that he was unable to reach any agreement with President Donald Trump on any matter of interest to Nigeria, during his US visit and that he has no future development agenda to validate his 2019 re-election bid, confirm our position that the Buhari administration has nothing to offer Nigerians.

“The PDP therefore urges president Buhari’s handlers to adequately prepare him before international outings as well as ensure full disclosure on all his visits outside the country, since he embodies the image and integrity of our nation, until May 29, 2019.”