President-elect Muhammadu Buhari has accused the outgoing Goodluck Jonathan government of not giving him “tips” on how to kick-start his administration on May 29.
He spoke on Thursday when a committee from the Centre for Human Security of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, presented a five-point policy document to him at the Buhari Support Organisation office in Abuja.
Hours before the event which held behind closed doors, the All Progressives Congress, insisted that the Federal Government was not cooperating with the transition committee set up by the President-elect.
“Buhari regretted that the outgoing government that is supposed to give him tips on how to take off has done nothing so far,” Garba Shehu, the Director of Media and Publicity of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation, told journalists after the presentation by the committee.
Shehu added that the President-elect “thanked the Obasanjo initiative for the gesture, assuring the committee that his incoming administration will be needing advice as time goes on.”
Areas covered by committee in the document include the economy, security, power, education and infrastructure.
He said that Obasanjo had set up a think tank to carry out a study on the challenges facing the country in the five key areas.
The study, he added, was started four months ago “so that the outcome will be made available to the incoming administration after the election.”
He also revealed that Nigeria’s former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr. Christopher Kolade, who headed the power committee, gave various stages of the proposed power sector development plan to include short-term, medium-term, long-term solutions.
Under the short-term solution, the plan seeks to raise the country’s power generation to 10,000 MW within a very short period of time.
He added that the president-elect described the intervention of Obasanjo and his team as a great impetus for the incoming government.
The vice-chairman of the committee, who is a former Minister of Finance, Kalu Idika Kalu, said, “We have looked at education, security, economy, power and Infrastructure. Those are the areas we have made recommendations and which we hope the new administration would be able to work on.”
He further explained that the president-elect was very happy that they had been thinking about how to help him hit the ground running.
The Chairman of the centre’s governing board, Akin Mabogunje. who also spoke to journalists after the event, said the committee had been working on a number of critical issues for the development of the country.
According to him, a delegation of the committee members involved in the preparation of the policy document was sent to present the report to the President-elect.
Earlier on Thursday , the APC described as untrue, a statement credited to the spokesman for the Peoples Democratic Party, Oliseh Metuh, that the Jonathan administration was cooperating with the transition committee constituted by the President-elect.
It also described Metuh in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, as a man with “an incurable disdain for truth.”
The PDP spokesman had in the said statement accused the APC of raising a false alarm over happenings within the Jonathan and the Buhari transition committees.
However, Mohammed insisted that the uncooperative attitude of the Jonathan team had continued despite its public posturing.
The APC statement Read, “We say with all sense of responsibility that as of today, May 14, 2015, just about two weeks to the May 29 handover date, no shred of information as to the status of governance from any ministry, department or agency of government has been given to our transition committee.”
“If that qualifies, in Metuh’s lexicon, as cooperation, then there is a problem somewhere. We dare Metuh or anyone for that matter, to controvert the fact that not a line of handover note has been handed over to our transition committee.”
The APC also restated its earlier call to Metuh to urgently undertake a course on how to be an opposition party spokesman so that he would not talk or write himself into avoidable troubles in the days ahead.
It equally admonished him to always verify information available to him in order to separate rumours from facts.
The statement further read, “Metuh decided to put his foot in his mouth when he latched on to the statement made by our Transition Committee Chairman, forgetting that in making his statement, the chairman was only advising him against anything that would put the Federal Government in a bad light.
“A discerning party spokesman, rather than a rabble-rousing one, would have understood the elder statesman’s stand for what it is instead of using it as a peg to issue a needless, hollow statement that puts his party and government in a bad light.”
The APC said it had decided to allow bygones be bygones, but now that Metuh had stirred the hornet’s nest, it was time to put out the facts for Nigerians to judge.
It added, “What happened was that, following the request by our transition committee to meet with them, they invited us to what was the first formal meeting between both transition committees.
“But the meeting was a mere photo-op, as it yielded nothing concrete as far as handover notes are concerned.
“In fact, what we met at the so-called meeting was far worse than what we had thought. Whereas we had hoped to get their handover notes on May 14th (the date they had indicated to us informally), they told us point blank that the notes won’t be ready until May 24th.
“Because this date falls on a Sunday that means we won’t be getting the handover notes until May 25th, just four days before the May 29th handover date.
“How do they honestly expect us to peruse thousands of pages of handover notes, ask pertinent questions and seek necessary clarifications within four days? Because we want a smooth transition, we asked if we could meet with some of the ministers pending the release of the handover notes, but they said no.
“When one of their members even suggested that the whole process be fast-tracked, they did not budge.
“Despite this setback, we decided not to put the whole issue in the public domain, until the babbling Metuh decided to look for trouble, describing the deliberate stonewalling by the Jonathan Administration as cooperation.” Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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Pdpigs are very bitter now, they will not make it easy for you. Give them time to clean out, truth is, their time is up. Jonathan is very bitter.
ReplyDeleteYour Saint Buhari never even gave Jonathan a chance to govern. He unleashed the monkeys and baboons to shed their blood on the streets of Nigeria just to distract Jonathan. Now, Jonathan conceded defeat to him, is that not good enough for him to have a good start-up? Should GEJ then spoon-feed him so as to be seen as cooperating? Shebi una talk say Jonathan na mumu? How can mumu then teach the saint a lesson on governance? You people in APC are just impossible dudes.
DeleteEnough of these tales by moonlight, if indeed Buhari said that, show us proof or keep quiet. Handing over is practiced all over the world, whether Jona likes it or not, he is a goner, simple as APC. Jonadaft is busy cleaning up the few dollars left.
DeletePlease read before replying ,he said tips! Not handover! Jonathan does not need to give tips the handover should suffice . After all he is clueless acceding to APC
DeletePdp should please work for the interest of Nigeria as promised & demonstrate by GEJ concealing defeat. The handing over note will definitely be voluminous to read &digest within a short period of time, not to talk of requesting for clarification on some of the issues. It is glaring that pdp is trying to prove difficult. To me I will say it will be in the record. They should know that deceiving information or lies could only be hidden for a while, truth will definitely surface one day. My advise is that Nigeria should come first I, whatever they doing. With or without pdp corporation new government will latter stabilize & Nigeria will move forward. Amen
ReplyDeleteYou guys aren't reasonable. Is this not the same Jonathan that you guys made all efforts to establish as a clueless person by refusing to acknowledge all the good efforts he's putting up? No matter how small his efforts you and your APC said he had nothing to offer and that his 6 years in office was a colossal waste? How come you now expect useful tips from such a failure? Don't you think you've just let us see how much you guys have deceived us?
ReplyDeleteAnyway,you've won already and just in a couple of days,that pot of porridge you've yearned for over 16years will be handed over to you,and please we won't entertain all these flimsy excuses you're giving us already. YOU MUST DELIVER AND IT'S IMPERATIVE.
It's one step at a time. When u relieve or take over u should get a hand over note to enable a smooth transition. That is what is needed now for Buhari to assimilate and Marshall out a plan for himself. I do not know what you personally benefited from oga jona but his administration failed woefully and is still failing. So let's all collectively do our best to move forward instead of hoping and praying for Buhari to fail cos if he does, d struggle continues for you and I, not them!
DeleteTips from a man you said is not good enough, are you high? Pls nobody needs to spoonfeed you, if you actually said this then am already laughing in 3D, instead mapping out your agenda you were busy carrying propaganda well it's time to work. We won't entertain any lousy excuse.
ReplyDeleteBuhari should please this question: Did GEJ put those campaign promises you made in your mouth and then forced you to say them? If not, why are you expecting tips from him. All you will get is a hand over note detailing the failures of the government of GEJ, as observed by you during the campaigns, and then you and your criminal minded cronies will use your non-clueless heads to begin fixing them. Do not worry, Obama still has up to 18 months in office. Since he has helped you thus far, you can expert practical tips for the next 18 months. But just note that the social media has their eyes firmly glued on all your campaign promises. Tips or no tips you are bound as the man of integrity you claim to be to fulfill all without excuses or exceptions.
ReplyDeleteWhether u PDP cooperate or not,it can only be a bit difficult at a start but after sometime it will be easy for our dear Buhari.Allah who put him there will guide him right to succeed.Buhari, Fear not Almighty Allah is with you and you will succeed where others have failled.Your election was a suprise,your success will also suprise the world.PDP will never smell that position again.
ReplyDeleteYou will not get any useful tips from Jonathan. Do you think Nigerians were calling him clueless for Nothing?
ReplyDelete