They embarrassingly turned a forum on Nigeria’s preparations for the 2015 elections, which held under the auspices of the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), into a theatre for a crude exchange of words, to the shame of Nigeria.
The forum, which had many eminent personalities including the Director of CSIS Africa, Ms. Jennifer Cooke in attendance, reportedly boiled over when the Special Adviser to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, who led the delegation from the Presidency and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the event, warned opposition politicians not bring the personality of President Goodluck Jonathan into the discourse.
The APC spokesman had earlier told the forum about the alleged failings of President Goodluck Jonathan, and questioned his sincerity on the 2015 polls.
Okupe, who was said to have initially stated that he would not wash Nigeria’s dirty linen in public, reportedly exploded when the opposition APC spokesman and delegation leader, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, hinted at the failure to address transparency issues, including the alleged $20 billion oil revenue, and the indiscretions by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as failings of the Nigerian government.
Okupe was reported to have retorted: “Alhaji Lai Mohammed should not cast aspersions on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria because if he does, he knows me and what I can do.” In response to Mohammed’s criticism of the government for its handling of the insecurity in the country, Okupe was said to have hollered: “ I do not expect you to come to this forum to raise these issues. It is nonsense.” He was also said to have continually teased the APC team on the lack of internal democracy in the opposition party.
Nigeria’s ambassador to the United States, Prof. Ade Adefuye, in his summary of the discussions, had to warn the Presidency and the APC not to wash Nigeria’s dirty linen in public. He also rightly raised questions about the propriety of Nigerians coming to discuss their country in the United States (US).
The exchange of words took place in the presence of many Nigerian professionals and government officials, US State Department officials and American specialists on Africa, who attended the event. Ms. Cooke, who later moderated the event, had to intervene as both sides strived to showcase the failings of one another.
This heated confrontation between the Presidency and the APC at a public forum in America is scandalous and condemnable. Their war of words at the programme is a shameless carryover of their continuous sabre-rattling in Nigeria, that has done nothing to redress the nation’s many problems.
Although the United States forum was hardly the right place for the APC to dwell on whatever it perceives to be the shortcomings of the Jonathan administration, the response of the government officials at the forum to its criticisms is equally regrettable.
This needless public argument in America is a disgraceful development that will not augur well for the image of Nigeria. Sadly, 12 opposition governors had, not too long ago, taken the president to the cleaners at another forum, also in the US, when they accused him of using Boko Haram as a ploy to scuttle the 2015 elections.
This continuous ridiculing of the country abroad is reprehensible. It is an unacceptable exposure of the serious division among the nation’s political class and the base levels to which they are ready to descend to achieve their objectives. This paints a very poor picture of governance and democracy in Nigeria.
Unfortunately, the PDP has not been helping matters. Earlier this week, the party ascribed the dastardly bombing of the Nyanya Motor Park in Abuja, which claimed hundreds of lives and wounded about 200, to the APC. This kind of accusation on a very serious incident such as the Abuja bombing, without any facts on the direct involvement of the APC in the incident, can only elicit similar spurious allegations from the opposition.
Whatever are the issues between the Presidency, the PDP and the APC, their representatives must be mindful of their language and the country’s image at all times. Going to a foreign country to wash Nigeria’s dirty linen is odious. It is not at all a practice of responsible countries that want to be taken seriously by the international community.
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