Secondus: Nothing shows there’s a govt in charge of this country

Uche Secondus, national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says there is nothing to show that there is a government in charge of Nigeria.

At a press conference in Abuja on Friday, Secondus said the country is in “a free fall”, as corruption and insecurity have been left unchecked.

The PDP chairman said Nigerians have become helpless and accepted to live like “citizens of nations without leader and with no direction”.

“As an opposition party, the PDP has screamed endlessly to high heavens but it’s becoming very clear to all that the ears we are targeting are deaf as nothing on ground shows that there is a government in this country,” he said.

“No attempt is being made from any corner to stem the freighting tide in our land. No effort is being made from any angle to halt the on-going free fall being witnessed in all fronts in the country. Where do we start looking at the state of the nation when all segments of governance have collapsed.

“Nothing establishes the fact that there is no governance in the country more than the worsening state of insecurity. Having exhausted their propaganda of winning the war on terrorism only in their press releases, as reality endowed on all, both the military and political leaders are now helpless and confused.”

Secondus said by asking the service chiefs to resign, the upper legislative chamber of the national assembly proved that the executive has lost control.

“Having few months back advised the executive to sack the service chiefs for having out lived their relevance and re-engineer the military for the emerging challenges, and having watched the security situation in the country grow from worse to worse, the legislators have limited option but to do what they did at least to show the people they represent that they are sensitive to their plights,” he said.

“Not even during the three year brutal civil war did we witness as much as over 300 soldiers absconding their duties and pouring abuses on their commander. Only poor leadership from the military and the polity can drag down morale of soldiers to such pitable level. The Presidency rising immediately to challenge the Senate shows also the level of confusion in the system.”

He also dismissed the fight against corruption, alleging that the presidential panel probing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) under Ibrahim Magu decided to sit in Aso Rock in order to hide a lot of things from Nigerians.

Secondus asked Buhari to step in order to “save Nigeria from ruins”.

‘BUHARI WILL NOT STEP DOWN’ 

Reacting, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, accused the PDP of being affected by the ongoing probe of government agencies.

Shehu said Nigerians voted out the PDP because they were fed up with “corruption on an industrial scale”.

“Based on the statement issued by the embattled chairman of the Party, Prince Uche Secondus, it is clear that they would have liked the President to not investigate but to cover things up: to not wake the sleeping lion as voiced by another of their leaders,” he said.

“In a democracy, an opposition party is as critical to the system as the ruling party but in the case of Nigeria, the leading party in opposition is afflicted by a life-threatening sickness, the undemocratic pandemic as a result of which they are trading away the nation’s democratic values.

“President Buhari will not resign. He is determined to continue the crusade against corruption, both legacy and recently unearthed cases, that are found to be shabbily handled, and in some cases unattended to by past administrations. The National Assembly, by virtue of its right to conduct its oversight function is currently carrying out own investigations. Additionally, the security and intelligence agencies are equally doing their part and must be given the time and space to conclude their work and present their reports.”