Go to court if you felt libeled - APC tells President Jonathan

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The All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to go to court if he felt libelled by the description of his presidency as a kindergarten presidency by the Interim National Chairman of the APC, Chief Bisi Akande.

In a statement issued in Accra on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said Chief Akande merely told the truth by his characterization of the Jonathan presidency, adding ''Isn't truth a defense to libel?''

It also said there was nothing strange or wrong in criticizing a democratically-elected President, after all he is neither an Imperial President, a Monarchy nor an Emperor. APC said nothing confirmed Chief Akande's assertion that Jonathan is running a kindergarten presidency than the  crude manner it (presidency) responded to the frank but constructive criticism by the APC National Chairman.

''In the true character of this presidency, its increasingly irreverent and undignified spokesman failed to respond to the  issues raised by Chief Akande, and instead chose to haul abuses at a man who is old enough to be his father. Such irresponsible act does no credit to the spokesman or the president he is serving, and Nigerians will definitely not forget such crudity in a hurry.

''Where is the presidency's response to Chief Akande's assertion that he has written two letters to the President over the serious challenges facing the country, without getting a response? Where is the presidency's response to Chief Akande's assertion that President Jonathan is witch-hunting political opponents? These are the issues that Nigerians are interested in, not how many hours the President sleeps at night because he is supposedly working tirelessly.

''In any case, if indeed this President is working tirelessly, we need to ask who he is working for, because Nigerians have yet to feel the impact of his administration. They are also not interested in the fact that the President once served as a deputy governor, governor and Vice President, because the experiences he supposedly garnered from doing so have not impacted positively on his duty as President. That's not a surprise, considering that the President owes his meteoric rise in politics to luck and destiny. Nothing else!'' the party said

It described the presidency as an under-achieving one, always eager to celebrate tokenism, using questionable statistics.

''As the presidency was composing its empty response to the serious issues raised by our highly-respected Chairman, the African Development Bank was saying in its annual report (African Economic Outlook), quoted by the local media on Sunday, that the proportion of people (Nigerians) living below the national poverty line has worsened from 65.5 per cent in 1996 to 69.0 per cent in 2010, most of those years under the PDP and the last four under President Jonathan.

''What therefore is there to celebrate in a presidency under which power generation has fallen to 2,500MW? What is there  to celebrate in a presidency that has only given Nigerians widespread insecurity, unemployment, dilapidated infrastructure, oil theft and unbridled corruption. Of what use is the touted 6% increase in the GDP when over 40% of our youth are unemployed? "the APC queried.

The party described as a figment of the presidency's imagination the claim of a feud between its leaders, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, saying the PDP and the presidency have been peddling lies over a phantom feud because they could not fathom how the leadership of the APC could put national interest above personal considerations.

''Mr. President, don't let your lick-spittle aides deceive you. There is absolutely no feud between the two leaders. Waiting for such a feud is like 'Waiting for Godot','' it said.