Stop Seeking Foreign Helps, Balarabe, Others Tell Buhari

FOURTEEN opposition parties under the
aegis of Credible Alternative Alliance on
Thursday in Abuja said it was “too early”
for the administration of President
Muhammadu Buhari to be relying on
foreign countries for support and
direction on certain policy issues
pertaining to governance.
The CAA, which also includes 13 civil
society organisations, restated their
resolve to provide a credible opposition
to the All Progressives Congress.
Congregrating under the CAA are the
Social Democratic Party, Peoples
Redemption Party, Fresh Democratic
Party, Nigeria Advance Party, People’s
Salvation Party, Change Advocacy Party,
United National Party for Development,
Peoples Progressive Party and the Action
Party of Nigeria.
A former governor of old Kaduna State,
Alhaji Balarabe Musa; elder statesman,
Dr. Tunji Braitwaite and former Minister
of Finance, Chief Olu Falae, who spoke at
a press briefing by the National
Coordinator of CAA, Dr. Damian
Ogbonna, on Thursday, said Buhari’s
administration’s “ability and readiness
to meaningfully govern Nigeria remain
in doubt.”
The elder statesmen said, “We note that
APC appears to want to cultivate and
rely too much on the support of foreign
governments. This is not good for the
sovereignty of our nation. CAA calls upon
APC to rely less on foreign support. The
party should do more to cultivate
domestic support and more so from
political parties in the country. You
cannot govern effectively when you do
so alone; it is not sustainable.
“In conclusion, we wish the new
administration well. However, its ability
and readiness to meaningfully govern
Nigeria remain in doubt. We pray, wait
and hope for clarity in the days to come.
“Both the President and other leaders of
APC have been in government for
decades to warrant knowing exactly
what they want to do and how they want
to do it. Even those of us here at CAA
with less than a year into our formation
do have bold and visionary plan upon
which we predicate our drive to govern
Nigeria.”
According to them, when people lay
claim to the ability to solve problems, it
is taken for granted that they have
diagnosed the problem and have ready
solutions “otherwise, it amounts to a
claim in deception and an exercise in
futility.”
The CAA, according to its promoters, is
formed to defend and advance
progressive, democratic and patriotic
entities and ideals in Nigeria “against
reactionary tendencies of a rudderless
and immensely corrupt governing
system.”
Ogbonna said that after a careful review
of the inaugural speech of Buhari and
the current state of the nation, the CAA
found the speech “embarrassingly tall on
promises but depressingly short on
vision and boldness.”
He said, “We searched for a silver lining
in the speech laying out a new
framework for the emergence of the new
Nigeria of our dreams, and found none.
There is no qualitative difference
between the 2015 Presidential
Inauguration speech and the inaugural
speeches of past presidents.
“The President talked about enormous
challenges; insecurity, pervasive
corruption, fuel and power shortages
and so on, but in no paragraph of his
speech did he lay out new initiatives,
new directions, new structures, new
federation, new constitution or even new
sets of legislation to tackle these
enormous challenges.”