APC opens up on Buhari’s ‘moves against Osinbajo’
http://www.hrlnews.com/2019/10/apc-opens-up-on-buharis-moves-against.html
The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday, described as
“absurd” the alleged conspiracy and rift in the presidency against Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo’s roles in the President Muhammadu Buhari
administration.
Lanre Issa-Onilu, APC National Publicity Secretary, in a statement,
said the speculations started after the setting up of the Economic
Advisory Council (EAC) comprising some of Nigeria’s most
independent-minded economists (some vocally critical of government’s
fiscal policies) to advise the President on economic policy matters,
including fiscal analysis, economic growth and a range of internal and
global economic issues, working with the relevant cabinet members and
heads of monetary and fiscal agencies.
It said constitutionally, while the power of the Vice President is
derived from the President, critics ignore Section 141 of the
Constitution, which spells out the Vice President’s statute membership
in the National Security Council, the National Defence Council, Federal
Executive Council, and the Chairman of National Economic Council.
“Then, sponsored hogwash reports emanated that the Federal Inland
Revenue Service (FIRS) gave the Vice President N90billion for the 2019
election — a rejected and disgraceful template of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), which saw the party deploy public and counter insurgency
funds to finance their political activities during their failed 16-year
rule of the country”, Onilu said.
“The conspirators are desperately trying to link government decisions
on the N-SIPs, which have been under the office of the Vice President
since it started in 2016 to support the conspiracies, however mundane.
“In the same October 1 address, the President announced the recent
redeployment of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to the
Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs from the Office of the Secretary to the
Government of the Federation (OSGF). Was this also to ‘whittle down’ the
powers of the OSGF?
“In our respective and collective efforts to support the development
of our country, we cannot afford to fall into the superficial in
assessing actions of government.
“Since implementation of the N-SIPs in 2016, the programme has
impacted over 12 million direct beneficiaries and over 30 million
indirect beneficiaries. The SIPs are already gaining global and local
acclaims across the globe on account of its nationwide social impact,
particularly from endorsement by the Africa Development Bank (AfDB),
World Bank, World Economic Forum, Action Aid (Nigeria), Africa Network
for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) the Nigerian Economic
Summit Group (NESG) among others.
“A question we should ask the conspirators and their partisan
sponsors is how did they miss the import of the President’s decision to
create a whole ministry to superintend the social investment programmes
and humanitarian issues?
“How did they not realise that the President’s action is an
indication of the importance he attaches to policies that are targeted
at the poor?
“Why does it appear that the so called analysts always do not see
things from the point of view of the poor? When policies are targeted at
the elites, analysts always seem to see those and understand them for
what they are, but choose all the time to see the mundane when policies
address issues that bother on the welfare of the masses.
“Warehousing all Social Investment Programmes, such as N-Power,
Conditional Cash Transfers, National Home-Grown School Feeding and
Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programmes (GEEP) under a full
Ministry and appointing a substantive Minister with the full complement
of civil service structure is a statement of President Buhari’s renewed
commitment to pulling millions of Nigerians out of poverty.
“We can understand PDP’s incurable shortsightedness and its leaders’
disdain for the good of the ordinary Nigerians, but we urge a more
rigorous and educated critic of government actions from those who have
taken on the noble responsibility of reviewing public policies. This is a
duty Nigerians expect of the media and the critics.
“The Vice President played a frontline role in the conceptualisation
of these policies and programmes and the President, in demonstration of
his trust for him, charged him with the responsibility of nurturing the
programmes to the current stage. Tremendous successes have been recorded
under the guardianship of the Vice President. In demonstrating the
administration’s commitment to the cause of the poor, these
interventionist programmes have been elevated to the Next Level with the
creation of the new ministry.
“The purveyors of the conspiracy theory about the imagined rift in
the Presidency have missed the opportunity to see the commendable
efforts of this government. Perhaps, if these policies were about the
elites, they would have focussed on the positive imports rather than
fishing for a crisis that only exists in their fatuous imagination.”