The Spokesman of the 2019 Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Segun Sowunmi, on Monday said the speech of the President, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), in which he
extended the lockdown in the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos, and the Ogun States to another 14 days were uninspiring.
Speaking during Politics Today, a political program of the Channels Television, Sowunmi said Buhari failed to address the growing concerns in some areas where some hoodlum had unleashed mayhem on people complying with the lockdown directive.
He also said Buhari did not sufficiently acknowledge the contributions of health workers who are at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19, adding that Buhari did not address to motivate them, such as hazard allowances and other security and safety measures.
He further said the President did not involve the local governments in the management and administration of palliatives and strategies to combat COVID-19.
He also said the social register as of March 31, 2020, did not capture Ogun State. He also said if it was true that the Federal government had been giving stipends to the poor, there should have been verifiable data that should have capture the transactions that have an automated system that would have migrated the beneficiaries into the banking system.
Sowunmi said, “I can be impressed because when you listen to other
Presidents, Boris Johnson just came out from the theatre, and he
spoke. You see how animated and connected he was! And the President
(Buhari) was just doing the whole old-style, reading from the
dialyze. This is not the time for this.”“I expected the President to have one or two journalists come in there
so that they can give him the type of questions Nigerians are asking.
For instance, Nigerians in the Ogun and Lagos are worried of what has
become the security situation there. He did not talk about it.”“I am absolutely questioning the integrity of the system (distribution
of the social incentives.) We will be observant, we will stay at home.
We will do everything humanly possible but we will audit this process
when it is over for it will be double jeopardy for Nigeria if, under
this dire times, those who are in charge of our commonwealth cannot be
judicious and show accountability in the management of the national
resources.”“The kind of person that you will want me to accept as the President
of my country will be is the one that does not measure up with his
peers? The Presidency must measure to peer review of equals. There is
nothing any President anywhere in the world can bring to the table
that I do not expect that the Nigerian President can bring to the
table. If I am guilty of holding him up to very high standard, then
sorry, I stand condemned!”
