Stop Chasing Foreign Helps — Balarabe, Others Tell Buhari

FOURTEEN opposition parties under the aegis of Credible Alternative
Alliance on Thursday in Abuja said it was "too early" for the
administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to be relying on foreign
countries for support and direction on certain policy issues
pertaining to governance.

The CAA, which also includes 13 civil society organisations, restated
their resolve to provide a credible opposition to the All Progressives
Congress.

Congregrating under the CAA are the Social Democratic Party, Peoples
Redemption Party, Fresh Democratic Party, Nigeria Advance Party,
People's Salvation Party, Change Advocacy Party, United National Party
for Development, Peoples Progressive Party and the Action Party of
Nigeria.

A former governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa; elder
statesman, Dr. Tunji Braitwaite and former Minister of Finance, Chief
Olu Falae, who spoke at a press briefing by the National Coordinator
of CAA, Dr. Damian Ogbonna, on Thursday, said Buhari's
administration's "ability and readiness to meaningfully govern Nigeria
remain in doubt."

The elder statesmen said, "We note that APC appears to want to
cultivate and rely too much on the support of foreign governments.
This is not good for the sovereignty of our nation. CAA calls upon APC
to rely less on foreign support. The party should do more to cultivate
domestic support and more so from political parties in the country.
You cannot govern effectively when you do so alone; it is not
sustainable.

"In conclusion, we wish the new administration well. However, its
ability and readiness to meaningfully govern Nigeria remain in doubt.
We pray, wait and hope for clarity in the days to come.

"Both the President and other leaders of APC have been in government
for decades to warrant knowing exactly what they want to do and how
they want to do it. Even those of us here at CAA with less than a year
into our formation do have bold and visionary plan upon which we
predicate our drive to govern Nigeria."

According to them, when people lay claim to the ability to solve
problems, it is taken for granted that they have diagnosed the problem
and have ready solutions "otherwise, it amounts to a claim in
deception and an exercise in futility."

The CAA, according to its promoters, is formed to defend and advance
progressive, democratic and patriotic entities and ideals in Nigeria
"against reactionary tendencies of a rudderless and immensely corrupt
governing system."

Ogbonna said that after a careful review of the inaugural speech of
Buhari and the current state of the nation, the CAA found the speech
"embarrassingly tall on promises but depressingly short on vision and
boldness."

He said, "We searched for a silver lining in the speech laying out a
new framework for the emergence of the new Nigeria of our dreams, and
found none. There is no qualitative difference between the 2015
Presidential Inauguration speech and the inaugural speeches of past
presidents.

"The President talked about enormous challenges; insecurity, pervasive
corruption, fuel and power shortages and so on, but in no paragraph of
his speech did he lay out new initiatives, new directions, new
structures, new federation, new constitution or even new sets of
legislation to tackle these enormous challenges."
—PUNCH