President Jonathan has reacted to a statement
released yesterday July 21st by former Head of
State & Chieftain of the APC, General Buhari in which
Buhari cautioned him over the use of federal agents
to fight the opposition party, noting that no
democracy can succeed without an opposition.

In a statement which was signed by Presidential
spokesman Reuben Abati, president Jonathan
asked Buhari not to blame him for the woes his
party, the APC, is going through. Find President
Jonathan's statement below and what General
Buhari said in his statement to President Jonathan after the cut...


President Jonathan's statement below... We have noted with much surprise and regret, the
statement issued by General Muhammadu Buhari
today in which he made some wild and totally
unsustainable allegations against President
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

Although he tries very hard to deny it in the
statement titled “Pull Nigeria Back From the Brink”,
there can be no doubt that General Buhari has
sadly moved away from the patriotic and
statesmanlike position he recently adopted on
national security, which President Jonathan publicly commended, and has now reverted to unbridled
political partisanship.
There can be no other explanation or justification
for the completely unwarranted and very
uncharitable assault on the conduct and integrity of
President Jonathan which the statement he issued today represents.
General Buhari’s main grouse which clearly
motivated his ill-considered statement appears to
be what he called “the gale of impeachments or the
utilisation of desperate tactics to suffocate the
opposition and turn Nigeria into a one-party state”. It is most unfortunate that instead of working to
put their house in order and resolve the leadership
crises and internal contradictions that have
plunged their party into a downward spiral,
General Buhari and his opposition allies have
resorted to blaming a blameless President for their woes. The processes for impeaching an elected
Governor are clearly stipulated in the National
Constitution which Nigeria has operated since
1999. The President of Nigeria is not assigned any
role in that process and President Jonathan has
certainly not played any role in the recent impeachment of Governor Murtala Nyako of
Adamawa or in the impeachment drama currently
being played out in Nasarawa State. For the record,
President remains fully committed to upholding the
letters, principles and spirit of the Nigerian
Constitution as he has sworn, and defending the rule of law and integrity of the democratic process
with all his might.
General Buhari talks about anarchy. He needs to be
reminded that President Jonathan from his humble
beginnings as a Deputy Governor in Bayelsa state
to date, has never in his acts, or utterances, recommended or promoted violence as a tool of
political negotiation.
Contrary to whatever General Buhari and his new
friends may imagine, President Jonathan fully
respects the rights, powers, authority and
independence of elected representatives of the people, including the members of the state
assemblies who have concluded or initiated
impeachment proceedings against their state
governors on grounds which they consider
justifiable. 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 General 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 General 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 General 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 General
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.
Reuben Abati
Special Adviser to the President

Space booked

Gen Muhammad Buhari's statement in part;


Whether or not President Goodluck Jonathan is
behind the gale of impeachment or the utilization 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 an elder statesman, 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 an elder statesman 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 head of state,
a man who has occupied many other sensitive
posts and a politician. I have been a close
participant and witness to Nigeria’s political history
since independence in 1960.

“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 utilize the
commonwealth to subvert the system and punish
the opposition, all in the name of politics. Our nation
has 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,”

“The dangerous clouds are beginning to gather
and the vultures are circling, and these have
manifested in Nasarawa where the ordinary people
have defied guns and tanks to protest the plan to
impeach Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura in a
repeat of the bitter medicine forced down the throat of Governor Murtala Nyako.

“The people’s protest in Nassarawa is a sign of
what will 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.”

“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 water the birth of the
democracy we are all enjoying 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,

’’ the statement read