Presidency has accused the interim national chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande, of running down Nigeria and creating problems for the country.
Akande, at a press conference on Sunday, had blamed President Goodluck Jonathan for not doing enough to rescue the girls kidnapped from Chibok, Borno State, by Boko Haram.
He also said Nigeria was on “auto pilot”.
Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati said government was not mouthing meaningless phrases and engaging “in blame game. This government has a job to do and it is doing the job”.
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Abati said this was “a very serious moment that requires all seriousness” and “to reduce all of that to partisan politics is in bad taste, irresponsible one-upmanship”.
“First, we consider it most unfortunate that the chairman of the APC will use the opportunity of the situation in the country namely the abduction of the girls of GSSC, Chibok, to engage in partisan blackmail.
“One, Nigeria is not on auto pilot. There is a government in place, there is a President who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. He is doing his very best to provide quality leadership and to reassure Nigerians that government stands ready always to defend their best interest,” he said.
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He said to “give the impression that the president is doing nothing is dishonest”.
Abati noted that Akande has made a number of recommendations.
He said: “This administration welcomes suggestions and recommendations. If he had limited his contributions to just making these recommendations, he would have sounded like a statesman.
“But let him be informed that even those recommendations that he has made are things that are already in place. These are steps that had already been taken by this administration. So there is nothing original in his recommendations that is unknown to the administration.
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“But he went beyond making recommendations to begin to engage in politics. We will like to advise people like him that where national interest is involved, we should come together and work hand-in-hand with the government. This is not the occasion for politicking, campaigning about 2015 and trying to run down the country.”
