The Presidency, on Tuesday, described the comments of former Head of State and National Leader of the Congress for Political Change (CPC), Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) on Saturday’s attacks on the Emir of Kano “reckless”.
It described the comments as “opportunistic and irresponsible” and warned politicians in general and members of the opposition in particular to avoid using the incident to make cheap political statements.
Buhari had while speaking through the National Publicity Secretary of the CPC, Rotimi Fashakin, condemned the attack, saying “The country was not just under an ominous cloud of insecurity, but its citizens were also victims.”
In a reaction to the comments, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr.Doyin Okupe, said, “The statement by Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, his party, the CPC, is unfortunate, reckless and opportunistic”.
“Though, the attack itself is regrettable, it is difficult at present to blame it on the Boko Haram or terrorism or in fact, on some criminal elements within the society that hid under the spate of insecurity in the state to perpetuate this heinous crime” ,Okupe added
Okupe also berated the Nigerian Labour Congress for being partisan and refusing to see thing from nationalistic viewpoint.
He said, “We are not impressed by similar stance by the NLC that is supposed to be non-partisan in nature and in all approaches.
“There is indeed absolutely no need to politicise this unfortunate attack on the revered emir.”
The presidential aide added that the police and other security agencies were working to ensure the arrest and prosecution of those behind the attacks.
Drawing comparisons with the United States of America, he noted that crime was inevitable in every country.
“At that moment in the United States, no American citizen or group blamed the killings on the President or the government, in spite of avalanche of security apparatus and expertise available to the United States Government,” he said.
He said what any responsible government would do was to ensure that the perpetuators of these heinous crimes were apprehended, arrested and prosecuted according to the laws of the land.
Okupe urged the citizenry to support government and the security agencies to ensure the arrest of the criminal elements by providing resources and information.