Your criticisms are baseless, Jonathan tells Buhari

President Goodluck Jonathan The Presidency on Thursday took a swipe at a former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), over his scathing criticism of
President Goodluck Jonathan's administration while
declaring his interest in the 2015 Presidential election on
Wednesday.
Buhari had while declaring his bid for the presidential ticket
of the All Progressives Congress in Abuja on Wednesday
claimed, among others, that the level of corruption in
Nigeria today was worse than at any other time in history.
He said he empathised with Nigerians, who he claimed,
were suffering deprivation daily.
But the President, in a statement by his Special Adviser to
the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati,
described the charges made by the former military leader as
reckless, baseless and unsupportable.
It further described Buhari's claims as an irresponsible
denigration of Jonathan's sincere efforts over the past four
years to positively transform Nigeria.
It said it reflected on the character of opposition politicians
that a person of Buhari's stature would make false claims for
political gain.
The statement read, "We have noted with disappointment
and regret, the reckless, baseless and unsupportable
charges made against the Jonathan administration yesterday
(Wednesday) by a supposed elder statesman, Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari.
"We wholly reject the allegations made by Gen. Buhari
against the Jonathan administration at yesterday's
(Wednesday's) declaration of his intention to contest the
2015 presidential election as an irresponsible denigration of
President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan's sincere efforts, over
the past four years, to positively transform Nigeria.
"It reflects very badly on the character of the political
opposition we now have in Nigeria, that a political leader of
General Buhari's stature will deliberately make such false
and uncharitable comments about the elected leadership of
his country, merely for personal and sectional political gain.
"The falsity of General Buhari's anti-Jonathan and anti-PDP
claims will be obvious to knowledgeable Nigerians and
friends of the country, but for the benefit of others, we will
like to affirm that there is absolutely no truth whatsoever in
his charge that "the last 16 years of the PDP government has
witnessed a decline in all critical sectors of life in Nigeria" or
that "the economy continues to deteriorate."
"Statistics and rankings from the National Bureau of
Statistics, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund and other international
economic agencies give the lie to General Buhari's claims on
the state of the Nigerian economy.
"As is well known, available figures, statistics and ratings
show that the Nigerian economy has consistently
maintained an unprecedented growth rate of 6-7per cent
under the Jonathan administration. They also show that the
Nigerian economy is now the leading economy in Africa and
the 26th largest in the world with a gross domestic product
of over $500bn per annum.
"Also, contrary to General Buhari's assertion yesterday
(Wednesday), Nigeria's agricultural sector is thriving under
the reforms being implemented by the Jonathan
administration as current production figures show and
neither manufacturing nor commerce is "down" as the APC
presidential aspirant alleged."
Abati said Buhari's most uncharitable and inexcusable
accusation against the present administration was that
election rigging continues to thrive in Nigeria.
"We also urge him to eschew unbecoming false accusations
against others like a true elder statesman and to focus his
campaign on more original ideas for the promotion of
peace, stability, unity and progress in our beloved nation."



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