Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole has described the potential class within the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as suffering from idleness.
He said that because of the idleness, the political class had continued to insist that President Muhammadu Buhari is planning a third term agenda even when he continued to deny the insinuation.
Oshiomhole, who answered reporters’ questions shortly after he led member of the APC’s National Working Committee (NWC) on a Happy New Year visit to President Buhari at the presidential Villa, Abuja today, January 2, said: “because there is a level of idleness within a section of the political class, people can sponsor all kinds of publications and to give doubt whether or not the President is planning to stay longer.”
He said that the reactions of the opposition to the New Year message by the President further showed the high level of idleness, adding: “I am surprised to see that there are people who begin to wonder why should the President reassure Nigerians that he is not going to do Third Term in office. Because Third Term was planted by PDP, it is still in the sub-consciousness of most Nigerians that the first Nigerian President tried to do Third Term emptied the treasury to bribe members of the National Assembly. And since that President left, thanks to the National Assembly, no other President has done eight years in office.
“You can recall that President Yar’Adua unfortunately has since joined his ancestors, and President Jonathan did six years and so by the special grace of God, this President (Buhari), we pray, will do his eight years complete in line with the provision of the constitution
“And I think it is his decision that at every interval he needs to remind Nigerians that he is not about to do what a PDP President did. For me it is necessary and in any case it costs us nothing to reassure us that I am leaving.”
The APC boss said that the NWC reassured the President that there was nothing wrong with his new year message to Nigerians as the opposition wanted to make it look, adding “we are indeed happy with the New Year message to Nigerians.
“The responsibility of every leadership is to inspire hope. Life is sustained and driven by hope and the challenge of leadership is not to join the people to lament that things are terrible, to give up and join the people in wallowing in self-pity.
“The principles of leadership is to inspire people, give them hope and in this case, in line with the principles of Accountability and Democracy. democracy is not only about voting and everybody goes to sleep, it’s all about explaining periodically what he is doing, what he is going to do differently and what he hopes to accomplish within a given time. And I think that is what the President’s new year message sought to do.”
