Presidency Implores Na’Abba to Change Perception on Buhari

The presidency last night appealed to the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Ghali Na’Abba, to change his perception on the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Na’Abba, who at the weekend, vowed not to support Buhari’s re-election in 2019 because “he has not added any value to democracy,” since 2015, also accused the president of sidelining the party and running a one-man show.

In a statement, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, who reeled out the achievements of the administration in the past two and half years, before Buhari’s election, said “Nigerians were living on their nerves and the entire country, including Abuja and Na’Abba’s Kano were almost barricaded because of the daily Boko Haram terrorist attacks on innocent people.”

He also said Buhari had demonstrated extraordinary courage by going after former military chiefs in the fight against corruption, querying that if the president could go after his fellow soldiers, “what more evidence do we need to prove that the President is bold and sincere in fighting corruption?”

According to the statement, by his position that Buhari has not added value to democracy in three years, “the sense we have is that the honourable speaker was confusing the political environment as had existed in the past, with this period when the President has shown a total commitment to the independence of the two arms of government, namely the parliament and the judiciary.”

The statement added: “Reflecting on the atmosphere which had prevailed before President Buhari came to office, Hon. Na’Abba said sometimes back that there ‘were cogent and verifiable (facts that) there were several constitutional breaches. The budget was not being implemented as well as a lot of other things, which are in public domain...that money was being shared... to sabotage the efforts of the House of Representatives that I led...it was (deleted) who orchestrated the attempt by the ICPC to have my office and the House probed. The person who went to swear the affidavit was a known acolyte of ( deleted) and it was not the first time. He did the same to Anyim Pius Anyim.’

“If Speaker Na’Abba will take a moment to ask his colleagues now serving in the parliament, Speaker Dogara in particular will inform him that nothing of that sort is happening today. The charge that democracy is now being undermined has therefore no basis against President Bukhari’s impeccable democratic credentials.”