Just In: Don’t Blame Me For Your Party’s Self-Inflicted Woes- Jonathan Tells Buhari

After General Muhammadu Buhari today
in a press statement asked President Goodluck Jonathan to pull the brakes on
his administration’s runaway train of impunity in the interest of Nigeria’s
survival and the sustenance of the nation’s democracy, President Jonathan has
deemed it fit to reply him. Find the president’s statement after the cut.

We have noted with
much surprise and regret, the statement issued by General Muhammadu Buhari
today in which he made some wild and totally unsustainable allegations against
President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

Although he tries
very hard to deny it in the statement titled “Pull Nigeria Back From the
Brink”, there can be no doubt that General Buhari has sadly moved away from the
patriotic and statesmanlike position he recently adopted on national security,
which President Jonathan publicly commended, and has now reverted to unbridled
political partisanship.

There can be no
other explanation or justification for the completely unwarranted and very
uncharitable assault on the conduct and integrity of President Jonathan which
the statement he issued today represents.

General Buhari’s
main grouse which clearly motivated his ill-considered statement appears to be
what he called “the gale of impeachments or the utilisation of desperate
tactics to suffocate the opposition and turn Nigeria into a one-party state”.

It is most
unfortunate that instead of working to put their house in order and resolve the
leadership crises and internal contradictions that have plunged their party
into a downward spiral, General Buhari and his opposition allies have resorted
to blaming a blameless President for their woes.

The processes for
impeaching an elected Governor are clearly stipulated in the National
Constitution which Nigeria has operated since 1999. The President of Nigeria is
not assigned any role in that process and President Jonathan has certainly not
played any role in the recent impeachment of Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa
or in the impeachment drama currently being played out in Nasarawa State.

For the record,
President remains fully committed to upholding the letters, principles and
spirit of the Nigerian Constitution as he has sworn, and defending the rule of
law and integrity of the democratic process with all his might.

General Buhari
talks about anarchy. He needs to be reminded that President Jonathan from his
humble beginnings as a Deputy Governor in Bayelsa state to date, has never in
his acts, or utterances, recommended or promoted violence as a tool of
political negotiation.

Contrary to
whatever General Buhari and his new friends may imagine, President Jonathan
fully respects the rights, powers, authority and independence of elected
representatives of the people, including the members of the state assemblies
who have concluded or initiated impeachment proceedings against their state
governors on grounds which they consider justifiable.

The constitution
does not give the President any power to intervene in such proceedings and
President Jonathan has never  arrogated
such powers to himself  or sought to
exert any nefarious and unconstitutional influence on state assemblies in
Adamawa, Nasarawa or anywhere else in other to secure undue political advantage
for his party as General Buhari unjustifiably alleges.

President Jonathan
remains true to his declaration that no political ambition of his is worth the
life of a single Nigerian. The President has definitely not declared war on his
own country or deployed federal institutions in the service of partisan
interests as General Buhari falsely claims. Neither has he been using the
common wealth to subvert the system and punish the opposition, as the former
Head of State inexcusably asserts.

Also, President
Jonathan has never at any time ordered that any Nigerian should be kidnapped or
that anyone should be crated and forcefully transported in violation of decent
norms of governance.

We therefore urge
General Buhari to tarry a while, ponder over his own antecedents and do a
reality check as to whether he has the moral right to be so carelessly
sanctimonious.

It may well be time
to pull the brakes, as General Buhari says in his statement, but it is he and
others who have resorted to idle scapegoating and blaming President Jonathan
for their self-inflected political troubles who need to stop their inexcusable
partisanship and show greater regard for the truth, democracy, constitutionalism,
the rule of law, peace, security and the well-being of the nation.

Reuben Abati

Special Adviser to
the President

(Media &
Publicity)

July 21, 2014