Performance: Opposition parties battle Presidency

*Ezeife, Balarabe Musa, Kaita, Aturu, Junaid Mohammed slam Okupe
*PDP accuses ACN, CPC, others of deceit

By Emmanuel Aziken, Olasunkanmi Akoni, Henry Umoru, DAPO AKINREFON, CHARLES KUMOLU & GBENGA OKE

LAGOS—OPPOSITION parties and Critics, yesterday, rose stoutly to the challenge of the Presidency to show evidence of the non-performance of President Goodluck Jonathan with various segments of the opposition and civil society rounding up the actions of the administration as the hallmark of non-performance.

Responding to the challenge thrown by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, political parties and civil society groups debunked the claims of progress under Jonathan made by Okupe on Monday, describing them as delusions.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP was still unsparing of the opposition, accusing them of fanning the politics of deceit characterised by the spread of lies and innuendos calculated to deceive the unwary.

The PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh cited as an example of the opposition’s use of deceit, recent claims by the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN and the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC that the Federal Capital Territory Administration budgeted N7 billion for the construction of two Abuja City Gates; N5 billion for the rehabilitation of commercial sex workers and N4 billion for the construction of First Lady’s Office.

Dr. Okupe had on Monday rebutted charges of incompetence and cluelessness that have been repeatedly thrown at the doorsteps of the Jonathan administration. While citing several landmark achievements of the administration, Okupe had dared the opposition to produce evidence of the alleged incompetence of the administration or forever keep quiet.

Opposition responds

Yesterday, the opposition reacted with fury, with the ACN, CPC, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, CNPP, the Save Nigeria Group, SNG, Afenifere among others responding.

Eminent Nigerians including second republic governors of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa and Alhaji Lawal Kaita, fiery Second Republic lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed; Third Republic governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife and civil right activist, Bamidele Aturu also responded to the issue in separate interviews with Vanguard.

The ACN in its response described incompetence, cluelessness and inconsistency as the hallmark of the Jonathan Administration against the suggestions of progress by Okupe who the party accused of trying to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians through a pedestrian play on semantics.

ACN replies Okupe

The party in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, also slammed Okupe for seeking to blame the opposition for the failure of the Jonathan Administration to make a positive impact on the lives of Nigerians, saying the likes of Okupe, rather than the opposition, have contributed in no small measure to the Administration’s low esteem in the eyes of Nigerians.

“There is no point rummaging through the dictionary to define incompetence, as Okupe has done in his rambling statement. All one needs to do to understand is to look at the waffling Jonathan Administration,” the ACN said.

CENTENARY—From right: Former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon; former President Shehu Shagari; former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar and President Goodluck Jonathan at the Nigeria Centenary flag-off ceremony in Abuja, Monday.

“Touting President Goodluck Jonathan’s impressive academic qualifications is also very cheap, as they have not proven to be an asset in the way and manner the President has steered the affairs of his Administration, especially his articulation of his government’s policies and the projection of its ability. In any case, while a Doctorate Degree in any field is something to be celebrated, it is not a pre-requisite for being a good leader,” the party said.

ACN said the country was being bogged down by corruption, insecurity, policy flip-flops, absence of governance and downright lies that have estranged the citizens and erased their trust in government.

“No Administration in our recent history has been more a hotbed of corruption than the Jonathan Administration, whether it is the fuel subsidy scam or the police pension scam, just to mention two. Even when a feeble attempt is made to prosecute those behind the scams, the majesty of the law is rubbished by prosecution that ensures that convicted persons get only a slap on the wrist. Under the Jonathan Administration, the more money you steal, the less punishment you receive!

“While a security crisis of the scale perpetrated by Boko Haram may be unprecedented in our country, equally unfathomable is the government’s inability to rise to the occasion, to such an extent that even the President admits that his  administration has been infiltrated by Boko Haram members!”

CPC, CNPP react

The CPC in its reaction articulated through its National Publicity Secretary, Engr. Rotimi Fashikin said: “What greater evidence can you have than the huge insecurity that Nigerians have had to cope with in the last 18 months? What about the rising spate of humongous corruption – never known in the nation’s history- currently under the president’s watch? How about the profligacy of the regime without cognisance of the parlous state of the nation’s infrastructure? Without doubt, Dr Okupe is being rehabilitated by this appointment, which explains why he is ready to mendaciously spin even when (in all good conscience) the spewing from him is not supportable by the reality in the land.”
The CNPP in its reaction articulated by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Osita Okechukwu said:
“We were taught in primary physics that if there is no distance covered no work done. Where is the distance covered by Jonathan in the midst of pervasive corruption, gross unemployment and collapse of critical infrastructure? Which of the promises made during the election has been fulfilled or attempt made to execute? Is it the new refineries, Second Niger Bridge or Mambilla Power or Coal Power Stations?”

His non-performance is written all over —SNG

The SNG, the group that championed the enthronement of Dr. Jonathan as acting president in the wake of the political malaise arising from the ill-health of late President Umaru Yar‘Adua in  its reaction said: “The non-performance of the president is written all over the landscape of Nigeria.”

In its reaction articulated by its spokesperson, Mr Yinka Odumakin the group said mockingly: “We can see it in the way the Boko Haram militants have been dealt with, that today everybody feels safe and secure. We have seen how kidnappers have been chased into their holes and we can see how all our roads and infrastructure have been fixed. We have seen how we have uninterrupted power supply in the country today.”

While faulting the presidency over the yardsticks used in measuring the president’s performance, Odumakin said: “So, these are the measurements of the president’s performance which Dr Okupe is celebrating; and through his performance, Nigeria is now an eldorado where all our embassies throughout the world are being flooded with foreigners who want to come to Nigeria to see the good things happening in Nigeria?  The performance we are talking about is only visible to the Okupes, the Abatis and Makus who surround the president but to the people of Nigeria, they are yet to see that competence which they are celebrating”.

There are many lapses —Afenifere

On his part, National Leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, Chief Rueben Fasoranti said: “Whether he is competent or not, there are many lapses no doubt. But he has to brace up and have a new focus. There are so many things that need attention. The Boko Haram menace is a problem that he has to face frontally, he has to consult other great powers to give him ideas because the thing is becoming more problematic. That should be a priority. Then the problem of unemployment is growing by the day; also power supply without which you cannot progress, we cannot improve and we cannot develop. These are some of the things he has to tackle apart from indiscipline all over the place.”

Not even Okupe’s children believe him — Aturu

Aturu in his reaction told Vanguard yesterday:
“Honestly, I feel that Dr Doyin Okupe is an elderly Nigerian and deserves our respect, but on this one, I think he is just on a wild goose chase.

“He himself knows if he wants to speak the honest truth to his children and grandchildren that there is evidence of non-performance all around us. When you talk about a government that cannot even point to a singular achievement what other evidence do you need that the government is not performing? I am surprised that he would be saying that….I think he should be fair to us and to his children and grandchildren.”

Our problems persist —Balarabe Musa

Also, Second Republic governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa asserted that “the president is not performing because he has not solved the problems he promised to solve. He has not solved any one of them and aside that, the problems are still increasing. Now we have Niger Delta militants coming back to war, while we are still trying to have a dialogue with Boko Haram. Unemployment is rampant everywhere as we have up to 20 million post-secondary graduates in Nigeria. The president himself said all public institutions have collapsed. So, in what area can he show progress? Certainly there is no progress.”

His advisers are incompetent —Lawal Kaita

Another former governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Lawal Kaita said it would be difficult for anyone to honestly judge the president as competent in the light of the situation in the country.
“In view of the prevailing situation in the country, it will be difficult for anybody to say that he is performing. His advisers are incompetent for saying that, because nothing is working the normal way in the country, how can anyone say that he is competent in view of what the nation is passing through now. The president should improve.”

We expect him to perform
— Ezeife

Also, former governor of Anambra State, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife said: “We chose him by voting him into office, so we expect him to perform. If you consider the kind of challenges before him, it would be enough to make the person run away, but as people who elected him, we expect him to perform.”

Jonathan has nothing to show —Junaid Mohammed

Second Republic lawmaker, Dr Junaid Mohammed on his part said:  “For me, you cannot assess a politician on the basis of what he wants to do but so far, this administration led by Jonathan has nothing to show. If you put together all parameters of a democratic elected government, you will realize that this administration is no where to be found.”
“In the area of maintenance of law and order, this government has failed the people because Nigeria today is not at peace and the insecurity problems seem to have gone everywhere.
“In terms of economic achievements, he has achieved nothing as well because the economic indices points to the fact that nothing has changed since he assumed office.”

PDP charges ACN, CPC of deceit

The PDP was, however, still unsparing of the president’s critics describing them as deceitful and unbalanced in their assessment of the presidency. The party in a statement issued by its national publicity secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh cited as an example of the opposition’s use of deceit the allegation that the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) budgeted N7 billion for the construction of two Abuja City Gates; N5 billion for the rehabilitation of commercial sex workers and N4 billion for the construction of First Lady’s Office. The PDP also accused the ACN and CPC of falsely claiming that the FCTA padded the budget for the construction of the Vice President’s official residence.

“It is however clear that this coalition of disparate forces are at their usual  homage to deceit and bare-faced lies aimed first at misleading Nigerians and whipping up public anger against the PDP. It is unfortunate that the leadership of these political parties among whom are elders whose ‘silver hairs’ we thought, would avail the nation virtues to paraphrase Shakespeare in Julius Caesar, have turned to merchants of cheap lies in an attempt to slur the integrity of our leadership of the nation.

“For the avoidance of doubt,” the statement continued, “there is no provision for the construction of the Abuja City Gate in the FCT 2013 budget and there is nowhere the FCT earmarked N5 billion for the rehabilitation of commercial sex workers in the said budget. We challenge the parties to prove us wrong.”