The Convener of Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) and former Minister of Education, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, on Saturday, said President Muhammadu Buhari didn’t deserve to be president, due to his lackadaisical attitude to the plight of the 2000 Nigeria Immigration Service recruits, who slept at the entrance of Aso Villa in Abuja from Friday till Saturday morning.
But the Nigerian presidency in a swift reaction challenged the former minister to run for presidency and take over from President Buhari.
We recall that NIS recruits were trained on weapons handling and dispersed on August 20, 2015 from their various camps, following a circular, which emanated from the NIS headquarters in Abuja, directing them to go on two weeks break. Since then, they have not been recalled to their respective camps.
According to The Nigerian Tribune, Ezekwesili, while appealing to the protesters to maintain decorum, also challenged President Buhari to come out and publicly address the alleged illegal recruitment which has permeated his administration in the last couple of months, saying “that was not the change Nigerians voted for.”
“You are great Nigerians. So, you slept here, Oh my God! Inside this cold of Abuja. Somebody holds you a better explanation, and if President Muhammadu Buhari says he doesn’t know that you slept here since yesterday, it means he doesn’t deserve to be there.
“This government should not punish those who did not deserve to be punished. Nothing should be done secretly. This is not the change Nigerians voted for. President Buhari should come out and address the allegation of illegal recruitment going on in the civil service,” she added.
She further alleged that the federal government was employing those who did not have knowledge, skills and required literacy through the backdoor into civil service without minding the consequence, while promising to join the recruits until their demands were acceded to by President Buhari.
Ezekwesili stated that the impunity Nigerians fought during the immediate past administration has resurfaced in the present administration of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
She frowned on the situation in which the underprivileged were being subjected to hardship before they could be employed into the civil service, pointing out that only the children of members of the National Assembly, Federal Executive Council and bigwigs in the country were gainfully employed, even without merit.
Also speaking, another convener, Mrs Aisha Yesufu said the immediate past administration deserved to be commended for redeeming its image by employing the recruits, wondering why President Buhari, who promised ‘change’ had subjected the youth who had undergone rigorous trainings, especially in weapons handling, to such humiliation.
Some of the other protesters, Godwin Ladi Mercy, Adeleye Adejoke, Salomi Yohanna and Usman Ugbede Yusuf, condemned government action, saying the Federal Government should not refer to the 2,000 youths as applicants, because they have been given provisional offer of appointments, NIS uniforms, identification cards and posted to various commands nationwide.
As of the time of filing this report, the protesters, who slept at the entrance of the Villa till Saturday, have vowed to remain there, until the president or any of his aides comes out to address them.
While reacting, the Senior Special Assistant to the president on media and publicity, Garba Shehu, advised Ezekwesili to form a political party to run for presidency if she felt Buhari was not doing well.
He told The Nigerian Tribube in Abuja that if she did so and won the election, Buhari would hand over to her.
Asked to react to Ezekwesili’s claims, Shehu said: “Did I hear you say that Madam Ezekwesili said President Muhammadu Buhari is not fit to be in that office?
“That is a political statement. What I will advise her to do is to come out of the shadow of the grieving Chibok parents, register a political party and go into the election against the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari.
“If she thinks she is a better person to be in that office, let her present herself to the Nigerian people in an election. She has the right to do so under our constitution.”
“The issue of democracy is that there is a right to vote and be voted for. If anybody thinks that they can do a better job than President Muhammadu Buhari as president of Nigeria, let them go and run for the office to win election and take over.”
Via Tribune
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Richy Richy
August 22, 2016 at 6:19 am
Dr Ezekwesili which one be your own Jonathan no good Buhari no good come and take over then
Yunus
August 22, 2016 at 9:18 pm
The Presidential spokesman should address the issue and not beg the question. This is injustice and the administration is insensitive to such.
LeTanyan
August 23, 2016 at 5:17 pm
This Ezekwesili is a selfish, conniving piece of work. I knew all this pontificating about BBOG is only an afront to bigger deception. Sorry maam, Buhari is hundred times better than yu PDP surrogates put together. He may hav faults (who doesn’t) buh at least he’s trying. All the Chibok girls are northerners in it ? Are yu Ezekwesili saying that yu care more for the missing girls than the President whom all PDP esp the Ndigbos have labelled an avowed tribalis ? You don’t float my boat maam, yu are just using Chibok girls as a political tool to get to the top. So stop all the charade bc you can’t fool us no more ! ! !
Uweh
August 23, 2016 at 6:41 pm
Shehu Garba has goofed big time. He should challenge the claims of dumping the Immigration recruitment. Those guys are said to have been given provisional appointment letters, only to be treated this way?
Garba, you should place yourself in the shoes of the victims of your boss’s poor management of the issue here.
Is this another exercise in the hugely sectionalized appointments and operations of this government? And to frustrate this Nigerians stinks to the high heavens!
Charles Offodile
December 11, 2016 at 9:24 pm
Buhari is aware of this as a matter of fact but could not do anything because he knows that the Democratic republic is far different from military regimental leadership with Religious adamancy in a Nation of embedded Tribalism of hate which he is culprit. How can he fight corruptions when he is said to be more corrupt and murderous hypocrisy. Buhari has thrown his reigns to the political wolves and Sycophantic Prostitutes who have their sentimental ideologies other than National unity from the onset by his appointment of officers wth his media speeches of sectionalism etc. He couldn’t his hate for certain groups of people who did not believe in him and went all out to unlawfully incarcerates, kill, massacres, marginalise, intimidates, subjugates, retard, Demertes and indirectly exterminatiing them continouosly at the expense of wealthy and powerful role to the existence of the so called mechanized faulted AMALGAMATION as root cause of the disunity unfortunately to Nigeria failures concurrently.
Martin
December 11, 2016 at 10:52 pm
Madam,
You are part of the grand deception that Nigerians fell into. You, Prof Pat Utomi, Charles Soludo and the other highly respected intellectuals made Nigerians to fall into this mess. You all deceived Nigerians even in the face of the glaring capacity question sounded by well meaning and experienced citizens about Gen. Buhari. Let’s all sink under the pain of both incompetence and insincerity of the present administration. There isn’t much you can do now. I am just wondering what your other partners – Soludo, Utomi and the rest will be telling us under the present confusion we are now