ACN slams President Jonathan for backing NGF’s losing faction

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has said it is a travesty of democracy for President Goodluck Jonathan to recognise Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State as the ‘chair’ of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), even though Jang lost to Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State in what has been widely acknowledged as a free, fair and transparent NGF poll.

In a statement issued in Osogbo on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the president’s ill-advised decision had shown that he had little or no respect for democracy and would stop at nothing to jettison time-tested ideals on the altar of political opportunism.

It said the recognition of the losing candidate for the chairmanship of the NGF had also shown that the president’s spokesmen either did not know the thinking of their principal or had chosen to engage in downright lies in his defence.

“President Jonathan is frittering away whatever is left of his credibility by the day. His spokesman said in a statement the day after the NGF election that ‘the president has always shown a willingness to work harmoniously with any leadership freely and independently chosen by the governors forum for the collective progress and development of all sections of the country and will continue to do so. President Jonathan trusts that as true democrats and respected national political leaders, members of the governors forum will quickly resolve the issues and differences among them, which emerged yesterday (May 24) and continue to contribute effectively to national development as a strong and progressive body.’

“But it is now clear that the presidency’s statement is not worth the paper on which it is written, that in the Nigerian presidency, words do not carry their exact meanings and that the spokesmen for the president speak for no one but themselves.

“When viewed in the context of similar deceitful statements by the presidency in the past, especially on the health of the first lady, one can see a growing pattern of a lying presidency, a presidency that likes to hide behind one finger. This is sad because without credibility, a president cannot govern successfully,’’ ACN said.

The party said the president, who should be looked up to as the father of all, had become the father of a few renegades and descended from being the president of Nigeria to the president of the PDP and and now the president of a faction of the PDP.

“This president is daily cementing his unenviable reputation as the most divisive president in the history of Nigeria. By raising partisan politics to a pedestal higher than national interest, he has divided the country along religious, ethnic and political lines more than any of his predecessors.

“In the process he has destroyed or about to destroy national institutions and organisations.”