Chief Jerry Obasi, the All
Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Deputy Governorship candidate in the 2015
general election in Ebonyi State, spoke on the crisis in the National Assembly
(NASS) and other burning issues in President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
By Ugochukwu Alaribe
His take on the crisis in the
National Assembly
The crisis was invented. It was
created by godfathers in the All Progressives Congress, APC who are not members
of the NASS in a battle for who becomes what in 2019. It is a battle for
positioning for 2019 because they suspect that President Buhari may not seek
re-election.
The selfish desire of some APC
governors to put their godsons in leadership positions is responsible for the
crisis. It is clear that whoever controls the NASS would have positioned his
camp well ahead of the battle. The crisis would have been easily resolved if it
was not created by non members of the NASS.
On President Buhari being too
slow and sectional in his appointments so far
There is no doubt that the manner
of Buhari’s appointments have so far favoured the North. It makes the president
appear not to trust people from other sections of the country. All the
appointments made by the President did not show equity, fairness and the change
he promised.
Buhari should live by his words
that he belongs to everybody. He needs to allay the fears of other sections of
the country about a possible Northern domination of political offices. Let
other appointments not be a Hausa/ Fulani/ Yoruba affair. Let it be a Nigerian
affair and reflect federal character.
On the issue of the President
being too slow, I totally agree with the people who hold such view. President
Buhari is yet to show Nigerians that he has clues to their problems. It has been
promises, promises as if we are still in electioneering period.
On Buhari’s bailout funds to
states to pay salaries and gratuities of their workers
I see nothing wrong in giving
bail out to states to pay salaries. The problem remains if the funds would be
put to the use to which they were received. Former Governor Martin did not owe
salaries and paid off the loan he collected, yet they included Ebonyi in the
states to be bailed out. Buhari should be careful not to encourage further
looting of state funds with the bailout.
Our governors should use the
funds to pay all the arrears of salaries owed workers. I won’t be surprised if
the bailout funds are misappropriated. The most baffling aspect of this bailout
is that it is the APC controlled states that are highly indebted to their
workforce.
Slashing of salaries by half
among political office holders seems to be the fad now, what is your take on
this?
Credit: Vanguard
No comments:
Post a Comment