•Says President failed to address herdsmen attacks, other critical issues
ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – A constitutional and human rights lawyer, Ms Carol Ajie, has described the Democracy Day broadcast by President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) as a “slumbering speech” that failed to address many critical national issues, especially his failure to name the recovered loot and looters as he promised.
Ajie in a statement analysing Buhari’s speech on Sunday, said that the President was at most incoherent as well as inconsistent about his promise to publish the details about the recovered loot and instead shifted the responsibilities to the Ministry of Information with no stipulated date.
She cited the President’s statement:“We are also engaged in making recoveries of stolen assets some of which are in different jurisdictions. The processes of recovery can be tedious and time consuming, but today I can confirm that thus far: significant amount of assets have been recovered. A considerable portion of these are at different stages of recovery. ..”, as slumbering.
Quoting Premium Times, Ajie said: “Rather than personally speak on the matter and provide specific details as promised, Mr. Buhari only said he had directed the Ministry of Information to periodically publish details on the assets recovered so far.”
The lawyer listed 12 key areas, which President Buhari either failed or deliberately chose to ignore including: “Galloping inflation arising from Buhari’s meanness in refusing to disclose an economic policy in Africa’s most populous country more than a year post-inauguration. He wants all Nigerians dead?”
Ajie also said that Buhari through his broadcast failed to respect the sanctity of life with too many killings involving the Zaria massacre, Fulani herdsmen slaughtering from Agatu to Enugu and inhumanity to IPOB some extra-judicially killed.
She also warned that Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) is sending dangerous signals to Nigeria’s democracy,as he refused to address the “INEC failure to announce results of elections conducted months after the exercise was concluded example in Rivers State just because his political party APC lost those elections”.
She further reminded the President that “most States have no Resident Electoral Commission (REC) officers, which he has failed to appoint”.
The human rights activist also listed other burning issues which are: “lack of INEC Commissioners – PMB’s failure to let some non-northern states have representations on INEC; recovered loot being re-stolen reasons PMB fails to state how much he has collected so far and if he has not should say so; and Wesy African Examination Council (WEAC) Certificate issues still pending – not eligible to contest”.
Others are: Oil licences PMB issued dozens of those as a sole administrator; silencing voices of opposition such that some renowned human rights lawyers had to cross over to pick APC membership cards and their voices now muted in the face of tyranny; shutting down opposition PDP headquarters; and Forex deliberately made to reach astonishing rates in order to punish and impoverish traders largely from a section of the country.
Ajie noted that in the US when President Barrack Obama Democratic Party presents his State of the Union address, someone from the Republican party is sure to present a State of the Union address to criticise claims made by the serving President.
“I think the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should write one not necessarily a jointly written statement as a political party, one or two governors or a member of the legislative houses could draw up a statement or they should vet and sign one as a political party and you know you don’t need the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to open the National Secretariat so as to access documents.”
“It is all online just type it on a search engine and google it into a well written paper,” she stated
