Nigerians to Jonathan: Focus On Governance, Not Abuse

The Presidency’s reply to the remarks by the Interim Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Bisi Akande, broke into trending topics on social media on Monday.
Akande had, on Saturday, described President Goodluck Jonathan as an “unserious-minded president” who runs a “kindergarten presidency.” The Presidential spokesperson, Dr. Reuben Abati, in his reaction, rebuked Akande, saying he should “respect his age”.
However, Nigerians have expressed their displeasure and accused President Goodluck Jonathan of pre-occupying himself and the Presidency with replying critics of his administration.
They said it was unwise for the presidency to be throwing tantrums at the opposition when many Nigerians are wallowing in abject poverty. Many argued that they would have expected Jonathan and the Presidency to expend their energy and time on governance rather than engage in exchanging of diatribes with a political party.
According to them, it is normal for any administration to be criticised, with many of them saying the only way the presidency can silence critics is to deliver on good governance.
Commenting on punchng.com, one Tosin Amadi said the presidency’s reaction to Akande’s statement amounted to idleness on its part.
The reader stated, “I wonder how idle the presidency is that it has so much time to respond to every criticism or tongue-lash thrown at it. One would have expected that it will learn to be focused, give Nigerians the tangible development we crave and, through that, tactfully silence the critics.
“Instead, it leaves its job undone and cries at every stone thrown at it. If Jonathan can’t stand being tongue-lashed, he’s got no business leading. Even the Bible says one should not give ears to everything lest one hears one’s house-maid abusing one.’’
A Facebook user, Felix Umukoro, said though the opposition party may appear lacking in respect for the presidency, Jonathan’s administration needs to first respond to pressing issues in the Nigerian polity before joining issues with it.
He said issues such as the on-going strike by the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, rising unemployment rate, among others, were not getting adequate attention from the Presidency as Akande’s remarks did.