TheCable

Martin Onovo, presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP) in the 2015 general election, has alleged that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government is “the greatest danger to confront Nigeria” since independence.

Speaking on Sunday night on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television, Onovo accused Buhari of violating the constitution in several areas.

Onovo said the All Progressives Congress (APC) had reneged on many of its campaign promises, saying instead of creating 3 million jobs in line with its vow, there has been “millions of job loss”.

“Let’s remove official issues and deal with fundamentals; this government is the greatest danger that has confronted Nigeria since independence. This government is very, very divisive. Right now, this country is divided along religious and ethnic lines. We don’t need that. This government is very deceitful,” he said.

When asked to prove his allegation he said: “If you don’t believe it, I have a document titled APC manifesto 2015. The document was signed by John Oyegun, national chairman of the ruling party.

“One of the things written there is 3 million jobs every year, but what have we seen? Instead of 3 million new jobs, it’s millions of job loss. In the document was immediate recruitment of 100,000 police officers, what have we seen? Announcement to recruit 10,000. The document also promised to increase the salaries of five security agencies, but what are we seeing, debt, owing salaries and allowances, even that of soldiers in the north-east. So if that is not deceitful, what is?

“This government is very dictatorial, abusing the laws and the constitution of the country. The constitution is very clear about so many issues, one is appointment. The other time a national newspaper published how out of 37 appointments, 30 were given from a section of the country. Now, what is that supposed to be? Look at the security appointment, six major appointments were made, and anybody who is a nationalist would have given one position to each of the geopolitical zones.

“I don’t want to go further, because if I give further information that I have, which I can confirm, it can be incisive, so I don’t want to give that level of information. Six major security positions were announced and the same sections of the country that were complaining of exclusion and marginalisation were left out, contrary to the constitution of Nigeria. Federal Character is very clear; it’s a constitutional requirement, not a political requirement.”

He also criticised the 2016 budget, saying there is nothing good about it.

Onovo, who opposed the idea of borrowing to fund the budget, alleged that Adams Oshiomhole, governor of Edo state, also has some reservations about the budget.

“These things are simple; it’s not because I belong to the opposition. We have heard a lot of things, we have heard of stolen budget, we have heard of padding, we have heard of missing budget, we heard of re-presentation of the budget. Which scandal have we not heard of?” he asked.

“If you must borrow, borrow for either development or project that can be paid off the budget. That is the first universal macroeconomic principle on the economy. Now, you will vote it in a very perverse manner. You borrow about 40 percent and you allocate only 30 percent to capital project.

“The difference you are plugging to recurrent that even your own Oshiomhole has advised you to cut down. Is Oshiomhole in the opposition? Why can we accept basic universal truth and principles? Why must everything be coloured with politics?”