2019: Lamido’s ambition making Nigeria laughing stock –Presidency

THE Presidency on Sunday observed that former Jigawa state governor, Sule Lamido’s ambition to be president of Nigeria in 2019 is making Nigeria be a laughing stock among other countries.

It also said the aspirant’s criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari was an indication of lack of intellectual depth by the opposition.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Monday, Senior Special Assistant to the president on media and publicity, Garba Shehu, the presidency took exception to what is observed as Lamido’s stepped up attacks on Buhari.

Citing the ongoing Lamido’s prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on corruption charges, the Presidency said: “It is even worse that such a person, facing criminal prosecution will start going around saying he wants to be president. Is this not one of the reasons why other countries are laughing at Nigeria? This is hooliganism. It is not opposition politics.”

The statement said that the series of interviews by a presidential aspirant, each one stepping up attacks on President Buhari over the ongoing war against corruption, “is a reflection of the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the opposition in the country.”

The statement warned that there was a grand plan by politicians seeking the destruction of national institutions such as the courts, EFCC and everything good that the nation stands for.

It added: “It is only in Nigeria that a leader will divert money belonging to the public into his children’s account then turns round to start pontificating on public morals, in the process subjecting the nation’s honest leadership to daily attacks based on falsehood.”

It posited that “the nation’s war against corruption spearheaded by EFCC was incidentally formulated by the past PDP administration. It is a tragic irony that the leaders of the same party are doing their utmost to weaken or destroy it. Watch it, is that why he is seeking to lead the country?

“Time and again, President Buhari had lamented that strongmen had destroyed the country’s strong institutions and that it will take strong men to rebuild them. He deserves the support of everyone to rebuild such institutions because they serve a common good.”

While appealing to opposition politicians to give President Buhari “the support he needs to rebuild national institutions such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission they either stifled or destroyed,” the Presidency challenged the presidential candidate “to convince Nigerians that his trenchant attacks against the government and the judiciary were not a smokescreen to becloud the atmosphere of his criminal prosecution.”

It further stated: “In his diatribe published in the Vanguard newspaper last week, it is clear that the former governor not only set out to mock the President but the judiciary and important national institutions as part of an orchestrated plot to divert public attention from his scam related cases.

“If President Buhari’s war against corruption as he said, was a mockery what does one say of Governor Lamido’s sworn efforts to sabotage the country’s efforts to rid itself of the cancer of corruption?

“If accountability of public officials is the very essence of a mature democracy, it is indeed ironic that a politician seeks the leadership of the country making a mockery of institutions and leaders seeking to entrench that.

“As a country, Nigeria settled for President Buhari not just as President but the watchman of people’s wealth. The citizens are happy with that and the whole world is applauding. The African Union, the AU just named him as the Champion of the war against corruption. Opposition politicians like Governor Lamido need to come to terms with the fact that their act needs updating.”