- National Assembly should sanction him, says group
- Situation could spell Nigeria’s doom- JOPED
- Don’t crucify Aisha for crying out- Former minister
…says situation in Aso Rock negatively affecting nation’s economy
Some Nigerians have urged President Muhammadu Buhari to take effective charge of affairs at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
They advised Buhari to reorganise the Villa and firmly hold the reins of governance of the country without giving any room to any of his aides or family members to manipulate the situation of things at the seat of power.
This call is coming against the backdrop of the recent alarm raised by the President’s wife, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, accusing her husband’s powerful nephew, Mamman Daura of using the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, to undermine her office as the country’s first lady.
Aisha had last week in a statement she personally signed alleged that Buhari’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, had been taking orders from Daura.
Mrs. Buhari had also accused Daura of ordering Shehu to issue a statement to say that the office of the First Lady had been scrapped.
A prominent politician and public affairs analyst, Bola Ajao, said the current situation at the Presidential Villa under Buhari portended a great danger for democracy and the country, adding that some action must be taken to save Nigeria from the quagmire created in the Presidency by Buhari’s “crass indifference” to happenings.
Ajao, who expressed shock at the revelation by the First Lady that Buhari’s media aide, Shehu, was now in charge of the affairs of the First Family in collusion with Daura, told The Point that the National Assembly had a duty to look into the matter and put President Buhari on his toes.
He described the goings on at the Villa as a “big embarrassment” to the entire Nigerian nation and her citizens at home and in countries across the world.
Ajao said this was why it had become imperative for the National Assembly to intervene to whip the President in line and save the country from the current shame.
He said, “It’s a messy situation we have found ourselves in this country. The First Lady has been complaining bitterly that President Buhari is no longer in charge of this nation. This portends great danger for our country and the democracy we practise.
“The National Assembly has a duty to look into this matter and come up with the way forward. That these cacophony of voices and discordant tunes from Buhari’s home are in the public domain is a great embarrassment to this country.”
A human rights group, Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice, said the situation at the Presidential Villa and President Buhari’s lackadaisical attitude amounted to committing an impeachable offence, on his part.
CHRSJ Chairman, Comrade Alimi Suleiman Adeniyi, told The Point that President Buhari was making Nigeria a laughing stock before the international community.
He called on the National Assembly to give the President a 21-day ultimatum to make amends to the current situation at the Villa, failing which the legislative arm should begin an impeachment process against him.
Adeniyi said, “When we said that President Buhari was clueless, some Nigerians didn’t believe us. But now, Nigerians have seen that we said the truth. Someone who is not capable of putting his home in check cannot deliver any positive result.
“Nigerians are now aware that Buhari cannot govern a local government, not to talk of presiding over the affairs of a country like Nigeria. There is a serious commotion in his family, where an ordinary media aide is now the one calling the shot in the Presidency to the extent of sanctioning the First Lady. It is a serious crisis and an embarrassment to this country.
“Buhari can’t concentrate in governing this nation if this crisis persists in his home.
“I want to call on the National Assembly to call the President to order if they are not the rubber stamp legislature that people call them. Buhari has violated the Constitution and he should have been called to order.
The activist also kicked against the attitude of the President in handing over the affairs of the country to lesser state officials and civil servants, rather than his vice president whenever he’s travelling out of the country.
He said that was another impeachable offence for which the President should be sanctioned heavily by the National Assembly.
“The National Assembly should give him 14 days ultimatum to put his home in order and after this ultimatum, if the problem persists, the National Assembly should begin impeachment process. This situation portends serious danger for Nigeria. How can a President leave the country and leave the affairs of the nation in the hands of the Head of Service?” Adeniyi said.
Also, a media advocacy group, Journalists for Peace and Democracy, described the development in the Villa as “too dangerous for the well-being of the country.”
JOPED National Secretary, Shehu Balanga, told The Point that a situation where unelected persons, including relations of the President not holding any official positions in government were now allowed to exercise “presidential powers” would not do the country any good.
Balanga said the latest allegations levelled by the First Lady against the President’s spokesman and his nephew should not be swept under the carpet as it was done in the past.
He challenged the National Assembly to live up to the expectations of Nigerians who had elected them to investigate the matter and wield the big stick against anyone indicted, if necessary.
Balanga said, “Why should anyone blame Aisha Buhari for crying out? She has been warning Nigerians about these people surrounding Buhari at the villa since 2016 and nothing has been done by anybody to check them. Why should the President’s uncle who is not holding any official position even be residing in the Villa along with members of his own family? They’re feeding fat on the resources of the country. In saner climes, that’s an impeachable offence by President Buhari, not to talk his lackadaisical attitude to governance, which has given such people the room to illegally usurp his executive powers. How can these unelected people be the ones taking decisions for over 200million Nigerians?
“The National Assembly should wake and stop being the President’s rubber stamp. They should remember if they allow these so called cabal in the Villa to collapse the country, we’ll all suffer the consequences.”
A former minister of state, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to one of The Point’s correspondents, however, said the freedom of expression in the Villa, under the current administration, where the wife of the President had always been expressive whenever something distasteful in her opinion happened, should not be seen as negative.
The ex-minister urged Nigerians to stop attacking the First Lady for speaking out against the situation in the Presidential Villa.
He, however, expressed fears the implication of the situation in Aso Rock and within Buhari’s cabinet for the nation’s economy, saying perhaps old age was catching up on the President, reducing his effectiveness in controlling government.
He said, “Yes, it is true that such was not happening under previous administrations. But can’t we also take it to mean that the President is not ruling with pretence? Though the wife of the President should not, ideally, attack her husband’s government, but if she does that, we should also look at the positive side.
“The person I blame here is our President, though. He seems to have placed relatives or should I say his kitchen cabinet over and above the First Lady. It shouldn’t be so at all. He should be able to manage that place out of the public space. But it all shows that he is getting old. My concern is for them to get a grip on the economy. We seem to be in trouble. There is really no coordination. The economy seems to be in the hands of those who don’t understand it.”
Main opposition Peoples Democratic Party National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, had last week said the alarm raised by the First Lady further exposed President’s Buhari’s incompetence and the ineptitude of his administration.
He said that Buhari’s failure to effectively be in charge of governance in the country had given room to a cabal of a few persons to seize control of government machinery.
Ologbodiyan had noted that the “the governance of our nation has been ceded to the chaotic and selfish whims of a cabal.
“It is indeed appalling that under President Buhari, our once productive and highly organised Presidency has been bastardised and reduced to Kunle Bamtefa’s soap opera, Fuji House of Commotion.
“Instead of governance, the Buhari Presidency has continued to serve Nigerians and the international community with tragicomedies that make mockery of leadership.
“Nigerians can now further see why nothing works under the Buhari Presidency; why the administration has remained shambolic and plagued with policy summersaults and executive recklessness; why our economy has remained comatose and why our nation has been dangerously drifting to the brinks under President Buhari’s watch.
“Indeed, the Buhari Presidency has proved to be a huge national embarrassment and a big problem for our nation.
“Never in the history of our nation has the office, essence and symbol of Nigeria’s Presidency been so stripped and ridiculed.”
