The Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives has advised President Muhammadu Buhari’s government to start welcoming every blow thrown at him by the Nigerian Elites in good faith, rather than transferring blame on previous administrations.

The deputy minority leader, Hon. Toby Okechukwu, disclosed that those faulting Buhari’s administration were there to help him succeed and not to bring him down, adding that it is up to the President to accept the faults as constructive criticisms.  

He said “Nigerian elites are not interested in harassing him. We are merely stating the office. If you take the issue of insecurity in the country, for instance, Nigeria is more threatened today than it was five years ago.

“Boko Haram has not only spread to the North West, they are now in Niger State, temporarily dislodged from their lodge in Nasarawa and are presently camped around Nasarawa/Benue border, according to the Governor of Nasarawa State, Engr. Abdullahi Sule.

“This presupposes that they are spreading down South. He was also quoted as saying that they took care of 900 family members of victims of Boko Haram attacks. It is our expectation that having about 900 families of Boko Haram will help us to debrief these people to understand their modus operandi to strengthen the war against insurgency.”

He further disclosed that “The President’s nostalgia with past governments since 1999 is completely unnecessary. He applied for the job and he presented a manifesto upon which he was hired in 2015 and 2019. He has not lived to the job application he made. So, if you are constantly going back and making constant reference to 2014 or 2015, then, why are you there in the first place?

“The business of governance is deliberate and it should be approached with prudence. It is up to Mr. President to make sure that his critics are put out of job by his performance. Mr. President should up his game to make sure he retires his critics by performing the tasks expected of you.”

The lawmaker, who also lamented on the level of division in the country, called on President Buhari to ensure the strict application of the rule of law by all the institutions, organs, and functionaries of governments at all levels, including the Presidency in order to enjoy favourable national and international ratings.

“Nigerians are feeling the pains. For instance, we never knew that under a President, who swore to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the land, replacing the Service Chiefs, whose tenures by law, practice, and convention, expired many years ago, would become a battle that citizens would have to win under ‘a man of rule of law’, and under a democratic government.

”The fault lines in the country are getting worse today and have even got to a point where criminals are first identified by their ethnic origins before you mention the crimes they committed, thereby setting every section of the country against the other. A bandit is a bandit,” he said.