Jonathan’s phone number comment on Buhari petty —APC osundefender.org/?p=204974 The All Progressives Congress has carpeted President Goodluck Jonathan over his claim that the opposition party’s presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, cannot remember his telephone number. The APC described Jonathan’s comment as “petty” and “silly” for a President. Jonathan, had, while reacting to previous statements made by Buhari, during a rally in Enugu on Friday, asked how the APC presidential candidate would develop the country’s economy if elected, a feat he could not achieve while he was in office as Head of State between 1983 and 1985. “Is it now that Buhari cannot even remember his own phone number that he can change the economy of the country,” Jonathan asked. The Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate said although he did not like to go personal during campaigns, “sometimes, circumstances demand that certain things must be said.” The APC, while reacting through its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, in an interview with SUNDAY PUNCH on Saturday, insisted that there was no correlation between what Jonathan said and why Buhari could not rule the country better. He said, “It is silly and petty to say Buhari cannot remember his telephone number. For the 20 moths Buhari was in power, he ran a surplus budget and he was the first Head of State to introduce local content. Mr. President is ignorant.” Mohammed stressed that Buhari, while in power, refused to take international loans and did not devalue the naira. He added that he was also the first to introduce trade by barter. He said the manifesto of the APC had explained how Buhari would run the country, if elected into power. “He is too lazy to read and understand this. It is sad and contradictory for him to rely on a speech made by a military regime. Mr. President should read our manifesto, which shows our robust solutions,” the APC spokesman added. Mohammed pointed out that only a leader that had nothing to hide could fight corruption. He said the Jonathan-led administration had failed in the anti-graft war because “no corrupt government can fight corruption.” He said, “Jonathan’s body language and being surrounded by corrupt people makes it impossible for him to fight corruption.” The APC spokesman asked what Buhari used to defeat the Mataisine sect as the Head of State, if Buhari did not equip the military. He recalled that the Nigerian Air Force received two military aircraft from Italy, with another three expected at the end of 1984. According to him, the military did not suffer under Buhari. Mohammed added, “As to his (Jonathan’s) claim that he has done more than his predecessors to shore up the country’s defence; that is absolutely untrue. It was under Jonathan’s watch that our Army was so ill-equipped and ill-motivated that there were mutinies. “Is it not strange that a President, who for six years has been unable to fight insecurity, corruption and unemployment, is casting aspersions on a man whose twenty months’ reign has become a reference point for discipline and transparency?” Also, The APC Presidential Campaign organisation has asked the ruling Peoples Democratic Party to tell President Goodluck Jonathan to address the nation on the massacre in Baga town which the Amnesty International has described as the single most deadly incident since the unfortunate insurgency started in the country. A statement from the Directorate of Media and Publicity of the APC presidential campaign on Saturday, said the PDP had dwelt so much on the issue of academic certificate of its candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, while there were more pressing issues for the government controlled by the party to address. “This government should not go on being insensitive. They have to be accountable to Nigerians. The issue of certificate of General Buhari is a non-issue as everyone knows that Buhari is a product of Daura Primary School, Katsina; Provisional Secondary School (now Government College, Katsina) and the Nigerian Military Training College. This is in addition to several other courses he attended at home and abroad.” The statement said further that the PDP government had failed in its duty and responsibilities to the citizens and the nation, and the party has also intensified efforts to pull wool over the eyes of Nigerians.
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 01:33:10 +0000
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