It’ll take time to clear Jonathan’s mess, says Presidency

The Presidency said last night that it will take time to clear the mess created by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, contrary to the call by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that Nigerians need to pray for the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. PDP National Publicity Secretary Olisah Metuh made the call in his 30-day appraisal of the Buhari administration. The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Mr. Femi Adesina, in a statement, said Nigerians were already on the side of the administration, which he noted was on course. “It requires scrupulous and painstaking planning to clean the PDP’s Augean Stable,” Adesina said, adding: “It is amusing to read what the National Publicity Secretary of the defeated Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, considers a 30 days appraisal of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. “He wants Nigerians to join hands in prayers for the government, so that things would begin to move. What he does not know is that Nigerians had long formed such coalition. They are hands in hands, and that was what gave victory to President Buhari in the March 28, 2015 poll. “They had teamed up to uproot an administration that had brought the country to her knees, and was about to tip her off the precipice. And Nigerians have resolved that never would they allow any government to divide them along regional, religious and ethnic fault lines again. “The Buhari administration is naturally contemplative because there was absolutely no rhyme or reason to the way PDP ran the country, particularly in the immediate past dispensation. That is why the Augean Stable is being cleaned now, and it requires scrupulous and painstaking planning.” Stressing that national life was devalued across all sectors under PDP, Adesina said: “And it takes meticulousness and sure-footedness to repair all the breaches. This, the Buhari administration will deliver. “Metuh talks of people around the President conniving with bureaucrats to syphon money from the treasury. This must be deja vu, as it was the pastime of the immediate past administration, and the enormity of the sleaze will be evident when stolen money, to the tune of billions of dollars, is recovered, and returned to the national treasury soon.” He said that only time will offer Nigerians the opportunity to compare the current administration with the past in order to know which one has come to serve the people. He said: “In the process of time, after all that is being planned by the current administration has matured, and bearing fruits, Nigerians will be able to determine who is serving them acceptably, and who has taken them for a ride. It is just a matter of time. “Meanwhile, Metuh and his masters can only rue the missed opportunities to make salutary impact on the lives of Nigerians. They have a long road of regrets to travel.” A statement yesterday by Metuh noted that the enormity of the confusion surrounding the government and the ruling party in the last one month had made it imperative for Nigerians to pray as the success or failure of the Buhari administration would not only affect the President and his party but also the entire nation. The statement said: “We urge Nigerians to join hands in prayers and offer useful suggestions to President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC because with what we have seen in the last 30 days, the present administration is finding it very difficult to get its bearings right while showing no inclination towards implementing its numerous campaign promises for which they were voted into office at the centre. ”We are deeply worried that the President, who promised to unveil his cabinet two weeks after his inauguration, has not been able to decide on key appointments, such as ministers, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief of Staff and advisers in key sectors of the economy. ”This is more so as the delay has brought government business in ministries, departments and agencies to a dangerous standstill with coordination of important policies vested on ministers and the SGF now in tatters while the system drifts. “This situation also creates loopholes through which overzealous persons around the President can connive with unscrupulous elements in the bureaucracy to syphon public resources in addition to possibly misleading the President to violate due process by spending beyond and outside his statutory limits. “The situation is taking its toll on the economy sector, which has in the 30 days witnessed unprecedented decline with a terrifying crippling of foreign and domestic investments, including activities in the money and capital market sectors. Under President Buhari, the stock market has lost over N238 billion while the All-Share Index fell by 849.87 basis points as at June 19. ”In security, apart from the directive to relocate the counter terrorism command centre to Borno State and seeking assistance from foreigners, no other concrete step has been taken in the fight against insurgency which the President in his April 22, 2015 CNN interview promised to end within his two months in office. “Instead, the anti-terrorism effort has completely lost steam in the last 30 days, with insurgents, who had already been pushed to the verge of surrender in the Sambisa forest by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, now surging back and spreading into the country. “We also urge for adequate respect for all organs of internal security, such as the Directorate of State Security (DSS), which is answerable to the Nigerian state and as such should not be publicly ridiculed by an aide of the President.”