Call your aides to order - APC urge president Jonathan

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged PresidentGoodluck Jonathan to call his aides to order to stop them from overheating the polity with their incautious statements, especially relating to the transition of power.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said while the PDP may bedeeply traumatized by its loss in the last general elections - and the party itself has said it is indeed suffering from 'post-election(defeat) trauma' - that should not be a reason for it to disrupt the nation's peace by displaying crab mentality.

It described as provocative and ill-intentioned the statement creditedto the Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, Prof.Rufai Alkali, that the APC should talk less and plan more for thenation, and that the party (APC) is seeking to stampede the Presidentout of office.

''Prof. Alkali doesn't know what he is saying. How does he expect usto plan when the PDP-led FG has bluntly refused to cooperate with usin ensuring a successful transition? As we write, the TransitionCommittee of the FG has yet to hold a single meeting with our ownTransition Committee, neither have they given us a line of handovernote.

''As a matter of fact, the Jonathan Administration has said thehandover notes will not be ready until the third week of May, meaningjust a week before the handover. What time then do we have toscrutinize the handover notes? How can we plan when we don't even knowwhich projects they have, which ones they have completed and whichones are outstanding? How can we plan when we don't even know how manybarrels of oil are sold per day?'' APC queried

The party said the fact that Prof. Alkali does not know the differencebetween Inauguration Committee and Transition Committee is areflection of mediocrity that permeates the Jonathan Administrationand led to its downfall.

''While their Inauguration Committee has been meeting with ours, theirTransitional Committee has yet to even meet with ours. How then canProf. Alkali justify his statement that the Jonathan Administrationhas been in a 'transition mode'?

''Is it part of their transition mode that President Jonathan has beenengaged in a rash of feverish last-minute appointments that, thoughmay not have breached any known law, are patently in bad faith,morally repugnant and indecorous. They say they are in office untilMay 29th, but pray, are appointments the only function of agovernment? Are there no problems crying for attention, such as theintractable fuel scarcity, the worsening power situation, the groundedeconomy and the missing Chibok girls?

''Is it part of their transition mode that Jonathan's Minister ofPower has virtually been reading the riot act to the incominggovernment, condescendingly warning it not to even consider reversingthe power sector privatization because its gains are ''veryobvious?''. Do they understand the implication of their gratuitous andunsolicited advice? If their power sector reforms have been sosuccessful, would Nigeria's power situation have hit perhaps itslowest point in a long long time as we have it now?'' it queried. 

APC said in as much as the Jonathan Administration is bent onprovoking the incoming Administration, creating confusion and evensabotaging the transition, the party (APC) has decided not to fall fortheir antics in the interest of peace.

The party reiterated its earlier advice to the PDP to shake off thetrauma of defeat and gear up for the challenging task of being inopposition.

''They must however realize that being in opposition is not a walk inthe park but like running a marathon in the desert where there are nooases or shades. The sooner they realize that the better for them,''he said.