'Stop blackmailing Jonathan' - Presidency tells APC

dimeji akinloye

May 7, 2015 12:20 AM

The Presidency calls on the APC to stop criticising Jonathan over recent Federal Government policies and decisions.

The Presidency has reacted to President Goodluck Jonathan’s last-minute appointments and the claims by the All Progressives Congress (APC) that the President is running the economy aground ahead of the May 29 handover date.

In a statement by the Special Adviser to the president on Political Affairs, Professor Rufai Alkali, and made available to journalists on Wednesday, May 6 in Abuja, the presidency said the machinery of government cannot be stopped just because there is going to be a transition of government.

Alkali said Jonathan cannot be “stampeded, coerced or undermined.”

Addressing the allegation that Jonathan is running the economy aground, he said “The allegation is immature, reckless and out of tune with the President’s desire and patriotic commitment to a peaceful transfer of power.

“Nigerians will recall that shortly after the results of the presidential elections were announced, President Goodluck Jonathan inaugurated a high powered transition committee to plan and organise a hitch-free transition programme for the inauguration of the incoming administration.

“Surprisingly, it took the APC more than three weeks to wake up to its responsibility to constitute its own transition committee. How then can they turn round to accuse the government of frustrating the transition programme?”

He therefore called on the APC to desist from blackmailing the president over recent Federal Government policies and decisions.

Alkali said the party should talk less and concentrate more on how to move the nation forward.

dimeji akinloye