The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has accused the Presidency of
being too clever by half with its claim that the ongoing Rivers crisis is not a threat to Nigeria’s democracy, saying the crisis is not just a threat to the nation’s democracy but also to the peaceful co-existence of its people.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the Rivers crisis looked ‘normal’ to the Presidency because it is the one behind it.
”Let us call a spade a spade: What is happening in Rivers State is not normal. What is normal in five members of a 32-strong house seeking to remove the Speaker supported by the remaining members? What is normal in the Police Commissioner of a state labelling the state’s Governor a dictator and supporting
renegade lawmakers to stir trouble? What is normal in hired thugs stoning visiting Governors from another part of the country?
”Should it not be clear to the Presidency what would have happened if any of the four northern Governors had been mortally injured in the attack on them by the hired thugs in Port Harcourt? In any case, is it not common knowledge
that most of Nigeria’s political crises have originated from a state or regional crisis?” it queried.
ACN also slammed the Presidency for struggling so hard to convince more discerning Nigerians that the outcome of the last NGF election won by Gov. Chibuike Amaechi, at the expense of the presidency-backed puppet candidate,
was of no importance to it (Presidency).
”If the NGF election indeed meant nothing to the Presidency, as claimed by an ever-so-deceitful presidential aide, why did the President make it a referendum on his presidency? Would the Presidency have described the outcome of the election as inconsequential if its candidate had won? And if the outcome is
inconsequential, why is the Presidency still aligning with its puppet candidate and describing him as the Chairman of the NGF, even when it is universally acknowledged that he lost the election?
”As we have said many times, no government can govern successfully by
deceiving the people, and certainly not in Nigeria where the people are discerning enough to understand the antics of a power-drunk, not-so-truthful Presidency. Here is a Presidency that seeks to distance itself from the Rivers
crisis while regularly playing host to the leader of the renegade lawmakers from the state. This Presidency should quit playing the Ostrich over the Rivers crisis!” the party said.
It also accused the Presidency of seeking to distort the reason for the visit to Gov. Amaechi by the progressive Governors, in an attempt to demonize the four patriotic northern Governors who paid the same visit earlier.
”The progressive Governors and the four northern Governors are on the same page as far as the Rivers crisis is concerned. Their visits were borne out of patriotic concerns that the crisis could endanger the nation’s democracy. It is therefore disingenuous to accuse the northern Governors of meddling while
praising the progressive Governors.
”In his usually easily-excitable disposition, the presidential aide who is always saddled with defending the indefensible failed to see the satire in the advice that Gov. Amaechi should visit President Jonathan over the crisis. Next time, we advise the presidential aide to contextualize such a statement before rushing to
the press to ridicule himself,” ACN said.
