The President has once again shown to the globe how idle and irresponsible he and his party men can be with taxpayers’ monies and national resources.
The African Action Congress has described President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress as disgraceful after 10 governors belonging to the party accompanied the President to revalidate his membership of their party in his hometown, Daura in Katsina State on Saturday.
Ahmad Lawan, President of the Senate, was also part of the President’s entourage.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, had disclosed the members of the entourage in a statement, saying, “The President’s registration exercise in Daura was attended by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan; former Senate President, Ken Nnamani; 10 governors, including the Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni, who is the Chairman of the APC Caretaker Committee, and other party stalwarts.”
However, a statement on Sunday by the AAC, formed by the 2019 presidential candidate Omoyele Soyore, described the actions of the APC stalwarts as wasteful.
The statement by Ameen Abdul, Chairmen of the AAC, Federal Capital Territory, on Sunday, titled, ‘Buhari’s APC membership revalidation trip; A Crystal Display Of Resource Wastefulness, Cluelessness and Idleness By Buhari's APC,’ also noted that the action was irresponsible.
It read in part, “The President has once again shown to the globe how idle and irresponsible he and his party men can be with taxpayers’ monies and national resources.
“The needless revalidation of membership of a clearly demystified and politically evaporated party like the APC, is a clear pointer and reminder that the current leadership lacks every human and technological know-how to move Nigeria and Nigerians to the desired next level.
“Buhari's led APC has not failed to ridicule and disgrace Nigeria before the global community every time the opportunity supplies itself. A simple digital computation would have saved the country and her citizens this disgrace and wasteful adventure of taxpayers’ money.
“It would have also brought about verifiable data of Nigerians who are members of the APC and not their usual way of manipulating figures as accustomed with their nature.
“The governors would have been seen as responsible if only they had supplied such energy into development, security, employment and education of their constituents other than lazing around in Daura, while abandoning their constitutional responsibility!”
Beyond the issue of wastefulness, the party also frowned upon Buhari’s violation of the COVID-19 protocols, especially as the President had on Wednesday signed a new law prescribing six-month jail term for persons convicted for disobeying any COVID-19 guideline.
Although most of the provisions were already in place, the legal instrument provided a basis for the prosecution of defaulters.
As provided in the Quarantine Act, section 34 of the new law states that any offence under the regulation is punishable by a fine or a term of six months imprisonment or both.
The law provides for the maintenance of physical distance in gatherings, while all persons in such public places must, among other things, wear face masks, wash their hands and have their temperature checked before entering such venues.
It also restricts gathering of more than 50 persons in an enclosed space “except for religious purposes, in which case the gathering shall not exceed 50 percent capacity of the space”.
It further mandates institutions such as schools, banks and worship centres to enforce existing guidelines to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
However, the President failed to adhere to the protocols, thereby violating the law during the validation of his membership of the APC at Sarkin Yara Ward in Daura.
On the violation, the AAC said, “Aside from being a jamboree, waste of national resources, show of idleness, total cluelessness on the usage of technology and a concrete show of no vision, the President also went there to flout the order he signed recently to convict anyone seen in a public space without a face mask.
“It is clear that the APC has lost touch with the people and contemporary realities amidst poverty, insecurity, unemployment, educational bankruptcy, bad healthcare facilities and sardonic corruption in the land if Buhari's major concern and priority is on membership revalidation and baseless trips.”