War of words between Goodluck and Buhari heats up as Jonathan is described as a failed president

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has hit back at his predecessor Dr Goodluck Jonathan describing him as a man who failed as president because Nigerians did not trust him in what appears to be a dramatic escalation of words between the two leaders.

Over the last week, the two men have been involved in a bitter exchange of words with former president Dr Jonathan accusing President Buhari of running a government based on lies and propaganda. Dr Jonathan asked why Nigerians who protested against his withdrawal of the subsidy on petroleum products in 2012 kept quiet when President Buhari did worse in 2015.

Replying Dr Jonathan, Femi Adesina, President Buhari's special adviser on media and strategy, said Nigerians did not protest the increase of fuel pump price by President Buhari because they trusted him. He added that the current administration enjoys the trust and confidence of Nigerians unlike the government of President Jonathan.

Mr Adesina added: “When petrol went to N145 under President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerians held their peace, unlike when they shut the country in 2012. The difference is trust - simple.”

Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ruling All Progressives Congress's (APC) national publicity secretary, added that the statement by Dr Jonathan was simplistic and insulting to the generality of Nigerians. He also said the former president had only succeeded in exposing himself to reactions that would not edify his status as a statesman.

“To say that APC won the 2015 presidential election simply by deceiving the people would be too simplistic and may even be interpreted as an insult to the millions of Nigerians that voted APC into power. I doubt that President Jonathan actually said these words because he would be exposing himself to reactions that would not be edifying of his status as a statesman by doing so.

“Secondly, I know the former president to be of even temperament. Only a few days ago, I read that he was counselling his party on the choice of chairman and publicity secretary, so statements like these wouldn’t represent an example of the kind of attitude he was canvassing," Mallam Abdullahi added.

Speaking in Abuja while receiving in audience one of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national chairmanship aspirants Professor Tunde Adeniran and his campaign team, Dr Jonathan had claimed that his administration, did well from 1999 to May, 2015, adding that since the change of baton, the APC administration had nothing to point as its achievement. Rather, he said the APC had been ruling through lies and deployment of what he described as hi-tech propaganda to cover its misrules, more than two years after taking over and he challenged the APC administration to a public debate over his submission.