- Shehu also slammed the lawmaker for signing a bail bond for controversial separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu, who immediately bolted out of the country as soon as he had the chance. “He signed the bond for the court to release Nnamdi Kanu on bail, from which moment the suspect disappeared into thin air. Senator Abaribe has failed repeated deadlines to return Kanu to the court for trial, yet he has the effrontery with which to accuse someone of failing to the bidding of the law.
The presidency has gone for the lawmaker’s jugular after he called on President Buhari to resign, amid worsening insecurity.
Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe (PDP, Abia South) has incurred the wrath of the presidency and spokesperson Garba Shehu, after he called on President Muhammadu Buhari to throw in the towel for failing to secure the country like he swore he would.
“Nigeria did not elect the IGP (Inspector General of Police); we did not elect the chief of staff, we did not elect the joint-chiefs or national security adviser, we elected the government of APC in 2015 and re-elected them in 2019. The reason we re-elected them is that they continued to tell us that they had the key to security.
“When you want to deal with a matter, you go to the head. So, we will go to the government and ask this government to resign because they can no longer do anything,” Abaribe said during plenary of Wednesday, January 29, before he was threatened with a hate speech charge by Senate President Ahmad Lawan.
‘The call is foolish’
In a statement issued afterwards, the president’s spokesperson Shehu said “Senator Abaribe’s call on President Buhari to resign is foolish.
“President Buhari to resign on what basis? Just because some characters think that President Buhari should resign, then they expect him to quit. That call does not represent the opinion of the country.
“This is the opinion of an armchair critic, known for making stray comments.”
Shehu also slammed the lawmaker for signing a bail bond for controversial separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu, who immediately bolted out of the country as soon as he had the chance.
“He signed the bond for the court to release Nnamdi Kanu on bail, from which moment the suspect disappeared into thin air. Senator Abaribe has failed repeated deadlines to return Kanu to the court for trial, yet he has the effrontery with which to accuse someone of failing to the bidding of the law.
“This is a man who should have replaced the suspects he failed to produce in the correctional facility.”
Shehu also said as a member of the PDP, the political party which governed Nigeria for 16 years, Abaribe shouldn’t be pontificating.
“Abaribe’s party raped the nation and left it collapsing in 2015 and President Buhari is fixing things up all the years he is in office.
“President Buhari is working hard to keep Nigeria and Nigerians out of the harm terrorists have unleashed in the entire Sahel and Sub-Saharan Africa with the support of Nigerians and our foreign friends, he is going to finish off these terrorists. He alone can do it,” Shehu signed off.
There has been an upsurge in terrorist attacks and banditry across Nigeria in recent times.
President Buhari, who rode to power twice in succession, partly on the back of promises to make Nigeria safer, said he’s been left stunned and surprised by the escalating insecurity around him.
