The Presidency has blamed the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan for President Muhammadu Buhari’s delay in appointing ministers and other members of his cabinet.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, made the allegation on Monday in an interview on Channels Television.
Reacting to a comment during his appearance on Sunrise Daily, he said, “That President Buhari spent 166 (days) without forming a cabinet, that absolutely is untrue.”
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“It took him time to form a cabinet because the outgoing administration in 2015 did not cooperate with the transition committee,” Shehu added. “The President was given handover notes 48 hours to the handover of power, and for whatever reason, the President at that time determined that.”
“The question President Buhari was asking for details of this and that amounting to running a second government in office.
”What that meant is that President Buhari had to wait, to come into office, and then learn all of the things that they had done so that he can build on the processes,” he explained.
The presidential aide insisted that the present administration has improved the nation’s economy since it took over government in the last three and a half years.
According to him, the victories recorded by the All Progressives Congress (APC) the recent elections have shown that Nigerians understand and support what the government is doing.
However, the comments by Shehu were countered by the Special Adviser to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Public Communication, Mr Phrank Shaibu.
Shaibu believes the claims by the presidential aide have shown that the President was not ready to lead the country having contested the election four times.
He said, “I want to tell him (Shehu) clearly that for saying that Mr President had to wait for handover notes from his predecessor before he could form a cabinet goes to show another form of admittance of lack of preparedness for the office of the President, and for the onerous responsibility of managing a country like Nigeria.”
“For an office you sought election for four times, obviously you should be able to identify eggheads who would help you manage the country,” Shaibu added.
“He didn’t need to wait for handover notes before he would be able to form a cabinet because before then, he should be prepared, he should have a working plan.”
Atiku’s media adviser alleged that the President had no working plan and insisted that the present government has failed the people.
