May 29: Nothing to celebrate in Buhari’s inauguration ― Timi Frank

Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, has said the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari for a fresh term of four-year mandate call for sober reflection, not excitement.

Frank who had since defected to the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) made the submission in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday.

According to him, all the promises made to the Nigerian electorate by the APC led administration in its first tenure were observed in the breach and further noted that its fresh mandate offered no ray of hope to Nigerians whom he claimed were mourning rather than celebrating.

The PDP chieftain further noted that the event of presidential inauguration held yesterday at Eagle Square was stripped of the glamour and fanfare that heralded same event in 2015 and declared that “most Nigerians who brought him to power in 2015 are now regretting doing so in the first place.”

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He said: “Despite all the heavy propaganda his government has embarked on, the promise to end insurgency is still a mirage. Under your administration, not only that Boko Haram insurgents are still active, kidnapping and banditry that were no threat have compounded the country’s woes.

“The so-called anti-corruption war of your government in the last four years only succeeded in victimising Nigerians in the opposition. No official in this government can boldly say what the recovered amounts are being utilized but Nigerians know they are being re-looted.

“On the economic front, this administration is notorious for amassing loans. Unemployment is at record-breaking levels, while small and big businesses have collapsed without any remedy even as corruption at the state level has been subsidized on several occasions in the name of bailouts and Paris Club refunds.”

Frank who further claimed that majority of real voters never gave their mandate to the APC’s presidential candidate during the last election, expressed the hope that the Supreme Court would resolve the election petition instituted by the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar challenging the victory of President Muhammad Buhari in favour of the former.

He added that “until the Supreme Court decides the true winner between Buhari and the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the inauguration of Buhari for a second term in office remains illegal.”

He advised Nigerians not to lose hope, adding that if the Next Level plan of the APC’s government was allowed to stand, the country might have been damaged beyond recognition in the next four years.

He also called on religious leaders, traditional rulers and all patriots to continue to pray and speak out against injustice in the society.