FG Not Cooperating With Our Transition Committee, APC Insists

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has insisted, for the umpteenth time, that the Goodluck Jonathan administration is not coop­erating with its Transition Committee, while describ­ing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) spokesman, Olisa Metuh as a man with an incurable disdain for the truth. In a statement signed by its National Publicity Sec­retary, Alhaji Lai Moham­med, yesterday in Abuja, APC said: “We say, with all sense of responsibility, that as of today, May 14, just about two weeks to the May 29 handover date, no shred of information as to the status of governance from any Ministry, Department or Agency, MDA, of govern­ment has been given to our Transition Committee. “If that qualifies, in Metuh’s lexicon, as coopera­tion, then there is a problem somewhere. We dare Metuh or anyone for that matter, to controvert the fact that not a line of handover note has been handed over to our Transition Committee. Un­til then, Metuh has egg on his face.” APC restated its earlier advice to Metuh to urgently undertake a crash course on how to be an opposition party spokesman so he won’t talk or write himself into avoidable trouble in the days ahead. Admonishing Metuh to always cross-check the information available to him in order to separate ru­mours from facts, APC stated had he done that, he would not have issued the state­ment in which he tried to cast aspersion on the APC by accusing it of “fabricat­ing lies” over the issue of the Jonathan administra­tion’s non-cooperation with APC’s Transition Commit­tee. Mohammed said: “Metuh decided to put his foot in his mouth when he latched on to the statement made by our Transition Committee chairman, forgetting that in making his statement, the chairman was only act­ing the statesman that he is by not saying anything that will put the Federal Govern­ment in bad light. “A discerning party spokesman, rather than a rabble-rousing one, would have understood the elder statesman’s stand for what it is instead of using it as a peg to issue a needless, hol­low statement that puts his party and government in bad light. We had decided to allow sleeping dogs to lie, but now that Metuh has stirred the hornet’s nest, it is time to put out the facts for Nigerians to judge. “What happened was that, following the request by our Transition Committee to meet with them, they invited us to what was the first formal meeting between both transition commit­tees. But the meeting was a mere photo-op, as it yielded nothing concrete as far as handover notes are con­cerned. “In fact, what we met at the so-called meeting was far worse than what we had thought. Whereas we had hoped to get their hando­ver notes on May 14, the date they had indicated to us informally, they told us point blank that the notes won’t be ready until May 24. Because this date falls on a Sunday, that means we won’t be getting the hando­ver notes until May 25, just four days before the May 29 handover date. “How do they honestly expect us to peruse thou­sands of pages of hando­ver notes, ask pertinent questions and seek neces­sary clarifications within four days? Because we want a smooth transition, we asked if we could meet with some of the minis­ters pending the release of the handover notes, but they stated no. When one of their members even sug­gested that the whole pro­cess be fast-tracked, they did not budge.” “Despite this set back, we decided not to put the whole issue in the public domain, until babbling Metuh decided to look for trouble, describing the de­liberate stonewalling by the Jonathan administra­tion as cooperation.”