See why Jonathan’s phone number comment on Buhari is petty

The All Progressives Congress has carpeted President Goodluck Jonathan over his claim that the opposition party’s presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, cannot remember his telephone number.

The APC described Jonathan’s comment as very “petty” and “silly”, coming from a President. He said, “It is silly and petty to say Buhari cannot remember his telephone number. For the 20 moths Buhari was in power, he ran a surplus budget and he was the first Head of State to introduce local content. Mr. President is ignorant.”

Jonathan, had, while reacting to promises by Buhari that he would build the economy and fight corruption, at a rally in Enugu on Friday, asked how the APC presidential candidate would develop the economy if elected, a feat he could not achieve while he was in office as Head of State between 1983 and 1985.

He however went personal on Buhari when he said: “Is it now that Buhari cannot even remember his own phone number that he can change the economy of the country.”

The APC, while reacting through its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, in a chat with Punch, insisted there was no correlation between Jonathan's word and why Buhari could not rule the country better.

Mohammed stressed that Buhari, while in power, refused to take international loans and did not devalue the naira. He added that he was also the first to introduce trade by barter.

He said the manifesto of the APC had explained how Buhari would run the country, if elected into power.

“He is too lazy to read and understand this. It is sad and contradictory for him to rely on a speech made by a military regime. Mr. President should read our manifesto, which shows our robust solutions,” the APC spokesman added.

He pointed out that only a leader that had nothing to hide could fight corruption. He said the Jonathan-led administration had failed in the anti-graft war because “no corrupt government can fight corruption.”

He said, “Jonathan’s body language and being surrounded by corrupt people makes it impossible for him to fight corruption.”

The APC spokesman asked what Buhari used to defeat the Mataisine sect as the Head of State, if Buhari did not equip the military. He recalled that the Nigerian Air Force received two military aircraft from Italy, with another three expected at the end of 1984.

According to him, the military did not suffer under Buhari.

Mohammed added, “As to his (Jonathan’s) claim that he has done more than his predecessors to shore up the country’s defence; that is absolutely untrue. It was under Jonathan’s watch that our Army was so ill-equipped and ill-motivated that there were mutinies.

“Is it not strange that a President, who for six years has been unable to fight insecurity, corruption and unemployment, is casting aspersions on a man whose twenty months’ reign has become a reference point for discipline and transparency?”