Presidency’s Lukewarm Attitude Due To Complicity In Rivers State Crisis – ACN

PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN AND LEADER OF A FACTION OF PDP IN RIVERS STATE, FELIX OBUAH AT THE PRESIDENTIAL VILLA, ABUJA
PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN AND LEADER OF A FACTION OF PDP IN RIVERS STATE, FELIX OBUAH AT THE PRESIDENTIAL VILLA, ABUJA

The opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has accused the Presidency of playing the Ostrich for claiming that the ongoing political fracas in Rivers State does not pose a threat to the country’s democracy.

The party said not only is the crisis a threat to the nation’s democracy but also a threat to the peaceful co-existence of Nigeria.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, ACN said the Rivers crisis looked “normal” to the Presidency because it is the one behind it.

The Presidency, speaking through the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe on Wednesday, was quoted as saying, “Developments in Rivers State do not pose any threat to our democracy. Our democracy remains robust, alive and well.”

But Mr. Mohammed said, “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?” he said.

While also berating the Presidency for struggling to convince Nigerians that the outcome of the last Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) election won by Governor Chibuike Amaechi, was of no major concern to it (Presidency), the ACN spokesman said, “If the NGF election indeed meant nothing to the Presidency, as claimed, why did the President make it a referendum on his presidency?”