PRESS STATEMENT – 9/8/2019

It thrives on hypocrisy and lack of true sense of purpose that a government that has continued to fail in her constitutional duty of providing good governance to the people will somehow find solace in shifting their blames to innocent people rather that owning up to their shortfalls and finding a possible solution; unless they are completely bereft of idea to continue. Then why not surrender?

The Director General of Atikulated Agenda Worldwide, Chief Dr. Emeka C. Kalu, have in a statement signed by his aide on media and publicity, Comr. Amos Kalu, berated the leadership of the APC-Led Federal Government who seems to be having more perceived enemies than the reality staring them in the face.

“I read with trepidation, a spurious and skewed publication by APC blaming Atiku for failures of Buhari since 2015, and I began to wonder how shameless people can be to be taking us back to 1999 when you should be finding solutions to problems of 2019 (albeit, were such fallacy had possibly existed) , it is just ridiculous.  

“If Obadanjo and Atiku made Nigeria to be as bad as you keep claiming to excuse you incompetence, how come Nigerians were better off from that 1999 till 2015 when you conducted your own “revolution” for your inglorious take over?

‘Yet between 2015 and 2019, Nigeria has become the world’s poverty capital. Why are you very much surrounded with many confirmed treasury looters even as you claim to be fighting corruption to a standstill? I know that besides your retinue of praise-singers, every sane Nigerian knows that corruption has grown wings under you and flew out of the cage?” He lamented.

Dr. Kalu insisted that the attempt at character assassination of Atiku by APC will still fail like their every other attempts had failed.

“Shamelessly coming up to say that Atiku paid people to protest is a blatant insult on the sensibility of Nigerians who are bearing the brunt of your maladministration characterized with failure, unemployment, killing, debts and crisis all over the nation. Nigerian had never been more disoriented at any point in time than now” He said.

Lamenting on the issue of illegal arrest of Sowore for an action he still proposed to carry out and terming it “Treasonable Felony”, he said that our legal system has been raped, squeezed and annexed to the exertive and it has become so bad that justice has continued to be miscarried.

Quoting extensively an analysis propounded by a legal luminary, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), Dr. Kalu elucidated as follows:

“I think it was discretion wrongly exercised, not having been exercised judicially and judiciously. In any event, Sections 39 to 43 of the Criminal Code and Section 410 of the Penal Code which criminalize treason envision a dire situation where an intention to overthrow a government, or overawe the president or governor of a state (called ‘mens rea’) is accompanied by overt acts (called ‘actus reus’), such as stockpiling and possession of arms and ammunition to physically carry out an insurrection, coup de’tat, or to use Sowore and his group’s terminology, revolution.

“Does mere uttered words, ‘we will cause a revolution’ by Nigerians who are singing, dancing and carrying placards on the streets, shouting “aluta continua, victoria acerta’, without more, constitute treasonable felony? Especially by Nigerians who are protesting against bad governance and have carefully itemized their grievances in writing? Do these amounts to treason or treasonable felony?

“Do you announce a ‘revolution’, if not for the mischief of some people deliberately reading the word literally rather than figuratively?

“Didn’t President Muhammadu Buhari in 2014 call for a ‘revolution’ in Nigeria during campaigns for presidency? Didn’t Chief Bola Tinubu in 2011 call for a ‘revolution’?

“Were they interpreted literally to mean the actual overthrow of the then government of President Goodluck Jonathan?

 “Didn’t the APC leadership, including Sowore himself, literally shut down Nigeria in January, 2012, during massive protests against the attempt by the then Jonathan administration to remove so- called oil subsidy? Did this government not later hike it from N97 to its present N145 a litre? So much for duplicity and double standards!!!

“Didn’t we, Civil Society and labour leaders, during successive military hunts and also during Obasanjo’s presidency, serially call for ‘revolution’, without any arms and ammunition?

“What happens to our citizens’ fundamental rights to freedom of speech, assembly and association as guaranteed by Sections 39 and 40 of the 1999 Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights?

“It is a shame therefore, that even after the Northern Coalition had called on Buhari to unreservedly apologize to Nigerians for arresting a man that has outlined the bad effects of this government, APC still find it germane to blame Atiku rather than finding ways to placate the aggrieved and hungry Nigerians that has become a monster created by Buhari’s directionless government, which may eat us all, including the Praise-Singers if not ripped in the bud.” He said.