…Says, ‘APC suffering from leadership ignorance’

…’Garba Shehu too desperate to win Buhari’s loyalty’

From: Ismail Omipidan

Former Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, on Tuesday,  said that the attack on his person by the Presidency showed clearly that the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration was ‘suffering from leadership ignorance’.

This is even as he described the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, as ‘an aide too desperate to win President Muhammadu Buhari’s loyalty’.

The Presidency, while reacting to Lamido’s interview in the Saturday Sun, through Shehu, had described Lamido’s attack on President Buhari’s war against corruption as a “reflection of the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the opposition ” in Nigeria.

It went further to say that for allegedly diverting public funds into his children’s account, Lamido has no moral right to pontificate on morality.

But Lamido, who spoke through his aide on social media,  Mansur Ahmed, said rather than respond to the pertinent governance issues raised in the said interview, the Presidency resorted to attack his person, adding that “I made it clear in one of my interviews that the case in court was a fallout of the’ civil war’ within my party, the PDP ahead of the 2015 presidential polls and that the Buhari administration had no hand in it.”

He added that “but if Garba Shehu is drawing a conclusion on a case that is yet to be decided, I leave Nigerians to judge between Garba Shehu, his paymasters and Sule Lamido, who is intellectually bankrupt. And talking about morals, if he indeed Garba Shehu knows what is called morality, should he still be hanging around the Buhari administration? He is only exhibiting brazen desperation to win Buhari’s loyalty at all cost.

“I leave the court to decide on the matter before it as I won’t want to say anything further on that. But suffice it to say that even in the matter, no where was I accused of stealing Jigawa ‘s money.  But like I said, I have implicit faith in the judiciary to deliver justice. The presidency’s reaction is a clear sign that it is suffering from ignorance of leadership. “

The former Jigawa State governor, who has since indicated his interest in 2019 presidency further said : ” I have read through the reports credited to the presidency but authored by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, a chap that is well known to me, reacting particularly to my interview published by Saturday Sun last Saturday.

“Reading through the interview, I have found it difficult to comprehend where Shehu got those things he was reacting to from. To the best of my knowledge, he appears not to have answers to the salient issues raised in that interview and that is why he resorted to attacks on my person, a thing he’s been used to from his days as media aide to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

“For the records, in the interview under reference, when I was asked if the APC’s failure would be an added advantage for us in the PDP ahead of 2019, I stated clearly that it was wrong to celebrate APC’s failure because it is the ordinary man that bears the pains.

“But I also said that during the campaigns, APC invented lies about PDP; calling us thieves, rogues, evil and all sort of names. Now that they are in government, they failed to metamorphose from a political party seeking election to a party in government where the culture is different. And because they do not have that sense of being a government in power, they keep repeating the same thing they were saying while they were in the opposition.

“I am a Nigerian citizen by right and not by the political party that I belong to, therefore, the government of Nigeria is my government. Unfortunately, by the apparatus and culture of the APC, they have so demonised Nigerians such that if you speak, you are mocked. For the first time in this country, we have a government mocking its own citizens. When you complain, you will be called a wailing wailer. If people are wailing because of what they feel is wrong, what a responsible government should do is to find out why they are wailing.

“As a father, if your children are crying, you don’t say, ‘look, why did you steal some of the money I gave you for feeding? Shut up’, and then you start abusing your child. The APC justifies irrationality. They are suffering from ignorance of leadership. They think that you are a citizen of Nigeria by privilege, but you are a citizen by right.

“Some of those in government now, what has been their contribution to the development of Nigeria? Nothing! But today, they mock Nigerians. Today, the culture of lies has become an art of governance. When Buhari was in London for treatment, Lai Mohammed and other aides kept telling Nigerians that he was perfectly healthy but when he returned, the President himself told Nigerians that he had not been that sick before in his life, but his aides were saying another thing.

“For instance, they made allocations of billions of naira for Aso Rock clinic, yet they say there is no syringe there, but if you complain, APC would say you are a wailing wailer. Aisha Buhari wailed like me, which means she is also a wailing wailer. When you wail, it is because things are being done wrongly and that is why you are wailing. PDP has been wailing, they are wailers and even some in APC have become wailing wailers too, so we are now a wailing nation. Could this be what Garba Shehu was talking about or my reference to Prof. Itse Sagay ‘s comment who referred to the APC as a party of thieves and corrupt people?” Lamido, added.