A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Mba Ekpezu Ukweni, has blasted President Mohammadu Buhari over bad governance and commended the former President, Olusegun Obasanjo for speaking the minds of Nigerians.
Speaking to DAILY POST in Calabar, Ukweni said that Obasenjo’s statement came at the right time, saying it is something that has been bothering him for a long time. He added that the statement was apt, appropriate and direct to the point.
Interestingly, the legal luminary said that the former President spoke the minds of majority of Nigerians, “98% of Nigerians know what is going on and any person who thinks that the statement made by the former President is not appropriate in the circumstance, I think such person is misguiding himself.
He pointed it out that the statement wouldn’t have come out at a better time than now, that the political class are gearing again to take over the realm of power for another 4 years.
He said, ”President Obasanjo made the statement as a Statesman; it would have been bad if a person of his standing makes no statement in respect of the situation in the country. “We all have been talking and if he doesn’t come out to say something, to let people know his position, it would have been too bad.”
“We welcome his statement, this is not something that the APC or the President should take as a careless statement, it is a statement that they need to reflect upon, It is an appropriate statement; they should reflect upon it and know that Nigerians can no longer be taken for granted.
“The people who are governing us, who are ruling us, must realize the fact that they have a responsibility to govern us purposefully and in accordance with the oaths of office they took.”
Consequently, Ukweni said, “If the statement was to come from somebody like immediate past President, President Jonathan, people would not have taken it as they are taken the one of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo who himself fought against President Jonathan and stood by Buhari.
“It wouldn’t have had weight, many people would have considered the statement as coming from the immediate past President, Jonathan that it is a political statement made to undermined the present administration. It is better spoken by President Obasanjo.
Regretting the performance of APC, Ukweni said, “Well, from the beginning of this administration and the way it started, most of us, not been pessimistic anywhere, said if they succeed in turning round the economy and everything in the system including succeeding in the governance, then they would have prove me wrong, I did not believe that they were going to succeed.
The SAN, however, blasted President Buhari for not giving Nigerians the governance they expected. “It is the most barbaric and illegal act that a Country and government should condone the killings of Nigerians by Fulani headsmen.
“That is one of the things that the former President has put in his statement and we have all been shouting. Was it not the same reason that was given for Jonathan not to continue his governance that they were killing in certain part of the country and he did not visit them?
“But you see very clearly that the Federal Government was supporting what the herdsmen are doing, the mayhem they are causing in various communities. They are obviously supporting them, they are trying to pass a bill through the National Assembly, that a private businesses of rearing cows have now become public businesses that the various state government now have to allocate land for the private business of certain persons.
“Why would they not allocate land for other people’s private business so these were all the issues that make some of us to keep crying out in the country that we need to be restructured? The country need to be restructured and let nobody think that when the country is restructured and there is fairness in the system that there are certain persons who would be oppressed by the fairness,
“Fairness apply to all, and I don’t know what is the fear in certain group of people in ensuring that let us sit down and talk on how we can appropriately co-exist together since this one is not working. All of us have seen what is going on in the country and we are very very uncomfortable about it.
“This is not governance, the Federal Government cannot sit down there, the Police system is bastardized, the military is no more a military, they cannot do what they suppose to do, people are moving round killing citizens of the country and because it doesn’t affect certain group or certain ethnic group, then the Federal Government keep quiet and we felt that we are all together in one country, it is not acceptable, it is very sad and unacceptable,” he stated.
Comments