The All Progressives Congress, APC, yesterday accused the out-going
President Goodluck Jonathan administration of plotting to hinder a
smooth handover of power to the President-elect, General Muhammadu
Buhari (retd) on May 29. President Goodluck Jonathan had, on Wednesday,
accused the APC of acting like a parallel government and trying to
stampede his administraton out of office by making impossible demands in
the terms of reference of the President-elect’s transition committee.
Briefing newsmen after the Federal Executive Council meeting on
Wednesday, Minister of National Planning, Abubakar Suleiman, a member of
Jonathan’s transition committee, said the council frowned at the terms
of reference of the in-coming government and warned that the President’s
magnanimity should not be construed as cowardice. He said the council
agreed that Dr Goodluck Jonathan remains the President of the country
until May 29 and the in-coming government should avoid creating a
parallel government.
Justifying its claim that the Jonathan administration was plotting to
hinder a smooth transition of power, APC said: “While the outgoing
government had earlier issued a memo to all ministries, departments and
agencies to make sure their handover notes are ready by April 20, the
same government has now reversed itself and said the handover notes will
not be ready until May 14.
“With the new date, the Buhari transition committee will have little or
no time to take a thorough look at the handover notes or seek
clarification on knotty issues, effectively handing it (Buhari
Transition Committee) a fait accompli as far as the handover notes are
concerned. This does not augur well for a smooth transition and gives
the impression that the outgoing administration is trying to hide
something. “By its dilly-dallying on the date for the readiness of the
handover notes from the MDAs, the administration’s posturing that it is
ready to hand over has been exposed as nothing but a smokescreen.”
Responding yesterday to President Jonathan’s accusation, the APC in a
statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said
it was becoming apparent that the Jonathan administration will not
fully cooperate with the incoming government, despite its public
posturing in that regard.
The party also described as “an act of hostility and a
patently-misplaced aggression the unnecessary vituperation against the
incoming Buhari administration by the Jonathan government, ostensibly
because of the terms of reference of the Buhari transition committee but
in reality part of an orchestrated plot to sabotage the transition.” It
rejected the continued blackmail by the Jonathan administration as a
result of President Jonathan’s concession of defeat, wondering whether
the concession, gracious as it was, has now become a shield for all
wrong doings. The party said: “We are sick and tired of being
blackmailed by the Jonathanians.
Gen. Buhari won the March 28th Presidential elections fair and square,
having satisfied both constitutional and other statutory requirements.
“We have no apology for our victory, and the concession of defeat –
while it may have increased the political stock of President Jonathan –
has by no means diminished the historic and emphatic victory of Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress.”
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