Stop chasing foreign helps, Balarabe, others tell Buhari

The Punch - Nigeria

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.”