The Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP),yesterday told President Muhammadu Buhari that he doesn’t become a
democrat because he bestowed a posthumous national award on the acclaimed
winner of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election and democratic icon, Chief
MKO Abiola.
The opposition party, which
said it fully supports, any honour done by the nation to the memory of Chief
Abiola and all that he stood for, however rejects the inclination by President
Buhari to use the occasion to posture as a democrat and desperately seeking to
garner votes ahead of 2019 Presidential election.
A statement by the PDP
national spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, explained that the Buhari Presidency has
unapologetically violated and still violating, with gross impunity, all
democratic tenets for which Chief Abiola suffered, died and is being honoured.
“Rather than apologising
for his roles in those dark ages, President Buhari recently boasted of
violation of human rights during his regime as military head of state including
locking up citizens in prison without trial; the same injustice which Chief
Abiola later suffered under General Sani Abacha.
“This is a leader under
whose current watch our democracy has been subjected to the worst kind of
abuses as even documented by international bodies, including the United States
Department of State, Amnesty International (AI) and Transparency International
(TI).
“Chief Abiola, in his life
time, stood for personal liberty of citizens, particularly, the right to aspire
for any position; respect for constitutional order and principle of separation
of powers, national cohesion as well as a free press, all of which were upheld
by the PDP.
“It is however a notorious
fact that all these freedoms are being trampled and strangulated under this
Buhari Presidency, even as the national cohesion, which was the watershed of
the June 12 election, is being daily assailed under the watch of President
Buhari.
“While the PDP
congratulates the family of late Chief Abiola and other martyrs of democracy,
we also remember the roles of the late Senator Abraham Adesanya, Bagauda
Khalto, Dan Suleiman, Raph Obiorah, Alex
Ibru, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, Pa Ajayi Laniwun and a host of others, as well as
the Management and Staff of the Concord, Guardian, Vanguard, Punch and other
media houses, who suffered undue hardships for our nation to attain this
democracy,” the party said.
Meanwhile, the party
lampooned the Buhari Presidency for appropriating the achievements of the
National Assembly and listing them as those of President Muhammadu Buhari.
PDP in another statement
signed by Ologbondiyan, said the recent attempt by the Buhari Presidency to
ascribe credit to Mr. President for the recent amendments to the constitution,
particularly the granting of financial autonomy to state assemblies and
judiciaries, was despicable.
“The party notes that
neither the Presidency nor the President himself, made any input in support of
these amendments.
“Equally appalling is that
the Presidency is still listing the passage of the “Not Too Young to Run” law
as an achievement of the President even when he had no input whatsoever in the
initiative.
“It is instructive to note
that none of the amendments stem from any executive bill and that the Buhari
Presidency has never initiated any programme to enhance the course of
governance in our country in the last three years.
“Furthermore, Nigerians
already know that the Buhari administration has not implemented a single
project or programme in any part of the country in the last three years of
governance, but always resorting to lies, blame passing, beguilments, deception
and contrivance.
“Instead of seeking ways to
mitigate the situation, Mr. President’s handlers are subjecting him to more
public ridicule of commissioning projects executed by other leaders such as his
embarrassing commissioning of a regular bus stop constructed by Lagos state and
a water borehole in Jigawa while posturing for photo-ops to hoodwink Nigerians.
“In fact, this clear
attempt by the Presidency to claim credit for the achievement of the National
Assembly has further confirms PDP’s earlier alert to Nigerians of plans by the
Presidency to dish out fictitious achievements and false performance indices to
deceive Nigerians ahead of 2019 general election.
Lagos State Governor,
Akinwunmi Ambode has charged staff of the state civil service to pursue quality
service delivery for sustenance of its change campaign.
The governor who was
represented by the state Commissioner for Establishment, Training and Pensions,
Dr. Akintola Benson-Oke, told participants at a two-day workshop on ‘Quality
Improvement In The Public Sector’, said the government is committed to improved
public service delivery in the state.
According to him, the need
to be proactive in the discharge of their duties had become imperative.
Speaking on the theme of
the training: ‘Re-Charting the path to Quality: The Sustainable Road To the
Change Mantra’, the Commissioner explained that the training was designed to
knit together all the factors and knowledge that would ensure that the current
government’s change campaign births the desired results for the Lagos State
Civil Service.
Ambode said the state had
continued to ensure that ideas and its initiators are guided and sustained for
an improved Public Service performance.
“In Lagos state, we have
been mindful of avoiding that pitfall. Thus, since the assumption of office in
2015, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has led and supported the Ministry of
Establishment, Training and Pensions, to design and deploy a series of
trainings and workshops designed to concretise and convert our change mantra
into meaningful, measurable, consequential and sustainable change in the Lagos
state Civil Service.
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