Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)
A
former Head of State, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), on Tuesday
accused President Goodluck Jonathan of waging a war against Nigeria by
using the “common wealth to subvert the system.”
Buhari made the accusation in a statement he personally signed and made available to journalists in Kaduna.
The statement titled, “Pull back
Nigeria from the brink,” is his first formal reaction to the removal
of Murtala Nyako as Adamawa State governor and the threat of impeachment
against Governor Umaru Al-Makura of Nasarawa State.
Nyako was one of the five Peoples
Democratic Party governors who in November last year defected to the
opposition All Progressives Congress.
Al-Makura is an APC governor in a state whose House of Assembly is dominated by PDP members.
The Presidency had since denied Jonathan’s involvement in the development.
But Buhari, who is one of the leaders of
the APC, said in the statement that whether or not Jonathan was aware of
the development, what mattered most was that it was happening under his
administration.
He warned that the development which
was aimed at turning the country “into a one-party state’’ did not augur
well for democracy.
The former military ruler lamented that
the recourse to impeachment as a punitive measure against
“out-of-favour” governors was an indication that Nigeria was gradually
drifting into anarchy.
He disclosed in the statement that he
had in his private capacity discussed the current situation with the
President but regretted that nothing had been done to check it.
Buhari explained that he did so
because, as a former Nigerian leader, history would never be kind to
him if he sat back and watched it to continue.
Describing himself as “ a close
participant and witness to Nigeria’s political history since
independence in 1960,” he said, ‘‘Our country has gone through several
rough patches, but never before have I seen a Nigerian President declare
war on his own country as we are seeing now.
“Never before have I seen a Nigerian
President deploy federal institutions in the service of partisanship as
we are witnessing now. Never before have I seen a Nigerian President
utilise the common wealth to subvert the system and punish the
opposition, all in the name of politics.
“Our nation had suffered serious
consequences in the past for egregious acts that are not even close to
what we are seeing now. It is time to pull the brakes.’’
He alleged that the impeachment or
threats of impeachment of ‘‘out-of-favour’’ governors was to
decapitate the opposition.
The general also said that impeachment
or threats of impeachment had become an unwelcome distraction to the
war against Boko Haram which has put the country on tenterhooks, “with
innocent citizens being daily mowed down at the times and places of the
group’s chosen and over 200 schoolgirls spending more than three months
in precarious captivity.”
The statement read in part, ‘‘Whether or
not President Goodluck Jonathan is behind the gale of impeachment or the
utilisation of desperate tactics to suffocate the opposition and turn
Nigeria into a one-party state, what cannot be denied is that they are
happening under his watch, and he cannot pretend not to know, since that
will be akin to hiding behind one finger.
‘‘In my capacity as a former Head of
State, rather than a politician, I have spoken to President Jonathan in
private over these issues, but indications are that the strategy has not
yielded positive fruits.
“I cannot, just because I am an
opposition politician, fail to do what is expected of me as a former
Head of State to help rescue our nation in times of great trouble and
palpable uncertainty. History will not be kind to me if I sit back while
things turn bad, just so that no one will accuse me of partisanship.
“Yes, I am a politician. Yes, I am in the
opposition. Yes, there is the tendency for my statement to be
misconstrued as that of a politician rather than a statesman. But I owe
it as a matter of duty and honour, and in the interest of our nation, to
speak out on the dangerous trajectory that our nation is heading.
‘‘I can say, in all sincerity, that I
have seen it all, as an ordinary citizen, a military officer, a state
governor, a minister, a Head of State, a man who has occupied many other
sensitive posts and a politician.”
He asked the President to tarry awhile
and ponder the impact of recent events in the polity and the
sustenance of its democracy.
Buhari said subverting the constitution
through desperate moves or deploying the institutions of state against
‘‘an out-of-favour’’ state governor could only breed anarchy.
He warned, ‘‘The dangerous clouds are
beginning to gather and the vultures are circling, and these have
manifested in Nasarawa State where the ordinary people have defied guns
and tanks to protest the plan to impeach Gov. Al-Makura in a repeat of
the bitter medicine forced down the throat of Nyako.
‘‘The people’s protest in Nasarawa State
is a sign of what to come if the federal authorities continue to target
opposition state governors for impeachment. In the long run, the
impeachment weapon will be blunted. Positions will become more hardened
on both sides and Nigeria and Nigerians will become the victims of
arrested governance and possible anarchy.”
He reminded Jonathan to also remember that no democracy could thrive or survive without a virile opposition.
Buhari added that a man in power must realise that he cannot always do things just because he could do them.
The former Head of state said, ‘‘I, along
with many other patriotic Nigerians, fought for the unity and survival
of this country. Hundreds of patriotic souls perished in the battle to
keep Nigeria one. The blood of many of our compatriots helped to ensure
the birth of the democracy we are practising today.
‘‘Let no one, whether the leader or the
led, the high or the low, a member of the ruling or the opposition do
anything to torpedo the system. Let no one, whether on the altar of
personal ambition or pretension to higher patriotic tendencies, do
anything that can detonate the keg of gunpowder on which the nation is
sitting.
“It is time for all concerned to spare a
thought for the ordinary citizens who have yet to see their hopes,
dreams and aspirations come to reality, within the general context of
nationhood.”
Jonathan however described the allegations by Buhari as unwarranted and totally uncharitable.
In a statement by his spokesman, Reuben
Abati, the President said Buhari had sadly moved away from the patriotic
and statesmanlike position he recently adopted on national security
to “unbridled political partisanship.”
Jonathan said there could be no other
explanation or justification for the “completely unwarranted and very
uncharitable assault” on his conduct and integrity which Buhari’s
statement represented.
He said it was unfortunate that instead
of working to put their house in order and resolve the leadership crises
and internal contradictions in the APC, the former Head of State and
his allies had resorted to blaming the President for their woes.
While describing the fate that had
befallen the APC as self-inflicted, Jonathan said he had never in his
acts or utterances, recommended or promoted violence as a tool of
political negotiation.
The statement read in part, “Gen. Buhari
talks about anarchy. He needs to be reminded that President Jonathan
from his humble beginnings as a Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State to
date, has never in his acts, or utterances, recommended or promoted
violence as a tool of political negotiation.
“The Constitution does not give the
President any power to intervene in such proceedings and President
Jonathan has never arrogated such powers to himself or sought to exert
any nefarious and unconstitutional influence on state assemblies in
Adamawa, Nasarawa or anywhere else in other to secure undue political
advantage for his party as Gen. Buhari unjustifiably alleges.
“President Jonathan remains true to his
declaration that no political ambition of his is worth the life of a
single Nigerian. The President has definitely not declared war on his
own country or deployed federal institutions in the service of partisan
interests as Gen. Buhari falsely claims. Neither has he been using the
common wealth to subvert the system and punish the opposition, as the
former Head of State inexcusably asserts.
“Also, President Jonathan has never at
any time ordered that any Nigerian should be kidnapped or that anyone
should be crated and forcefully transported in violation of decent norms
of governance.
“We therefore urge Gen. Buhari to tarry a
while, ponder over his own antecedents and do a reality check as to
whether he has the moral right to be so carelessly sanctimonious.
“It may well be time to pull the brakes,
as Gen. Buhari says in his statement, but it is he and others who have
resorted to idle ‘scapegoating’ and blaming President Jonathan for their
self-inflected political troubles who need to stop their inexcusable
partisanship and show greater regard for the truth, democracy,
constitutionalism, the rule of law, peace, security and the well-being
of the nation.”
SOURCE: PUNCH NEWS
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