Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) and President Goodluck Jonathan
Jaiyeola Andrews in Abuja
In reaction to the scathing assessment of the Jonathan administration made by Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) during his declaration of intent to contest for the presidency in 2015, President Goodluck Jonathan has asked him to stick to the truth during the conduct of his campaign.
In a statement Thursday by his media adviser, Dr. Reuben Abati, the president said: “We have noted with disappointment and regret the reckless, baseless and unsupportable charges made against the Jonathan Administration yesterday by a supposed elder statesman, General Muhammadu Buhari.
“We wholly reject the allegations made by General Buhari against the Jonathan Administration at yesterday’s declaration of his intention to contest the 2015 presidential election as an irresponsible denigration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s sincere efforts, over the past four years, to positively transform Nigeria.”
The president said the allegations reflected very badly on the character of the political opposition the country has now, “that a political leader of General Buhari’s stature will deliberately make such false and uncharitable comments about the elected leadership of his country, merely for personal and sectional political gains”.
“The falsity of General Buhari’s anti-Jonathan and anti-PDP claims will be obvious to knowledgeable Nigerians and friends of the country, but for the benefit of others we will like to affirm that there is absolutely no truth whatsoever in his charge that ‘the last 16 years of PDP Government has witnessed a decline in all critical sectors of life in Nigeria’ or that ‘the economy continues to deteriorate’.
“Statistics and rankings from the National Bureau of Statistics, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other international economic agencies give the lie to General Buhari’s claims on the state of the Nigerian economy.
“As is well known, available figures, statistics and ratings show that the Nigerian economy has consistently maintained an unprecedented growth rate of 6 per cent to 7 per cent under the Jonathan administration. They also show that the Nigerian economy is now the leading economy in Africa and the 26th largest in the world with a gross domestic product of over $500 billion per annum,” the statement said.
The president further observed that contrary to Buhari’s assertion on Wednesday, Nigeria’s agricultural sector had been thriving under the reforms being implemented by his administration as current production figures show and neither manufacturing nor commerce is “down” as the APC presidential aspirant alleged.
“His most uncharitable and inexcusable accusation against the present administration was that election rigging continues to thrive in Nigeria. We trust that all patriotic, objective and non-partisan Nigerians will reject that allegation, knowing it to be invalid and they will have the evidence of the progressively freer, fairer and ever more credible elections conducted under the Jonathan administration to support their position.
“Despite the other false accusations General Buhari made against the president who he clearly fears to take on in an honest, issues-driven presidential election contest, President Jonathan will continue to carry forward his transformation agenda in the power sector and other areas,” he said.
Jonathan maintained that he would not be discouraged or deterred from his objective of repositioning Nigeria for accelerated and inclusive socio-economic development by the partisan and jaundiced views of power seekers like Buhari who cannot see the obvious results of his administration’s efforts through their blinkered eyes.
He also drew the attention of Nigerians to the total lack of originality in the hackneyed manifesto offered to Nigerians yesterday by the APC presidential aspirant, adding: “All that General Buhari promises to do are already being done by the Jonathan administration to the acclaim of ordinary Nigerians and there is no evidence before Nigerians that the APC leader and his acolytes can do them better.”
He said the retired general is free to renege on his well-publicised pledge not to seek elective office as he has done, “but we urge him to conduct his presidential campaign with greater regard for the truth”.
“We also urge him to eschew unbecoming false accusations against others like a true elder statesman and to focus his campaign on more original ideas for the promotion of peace, stability, unity and progress in our beloved nation,” the president said
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