APC Urges Nigerian Leaders to Emulate Ex- S’Korean PM

The All Progressivoes Congress (APC) has urged Nigerian leaders to  hold themselves up to higher standards of conduct as a way of ensuring good governance and winning global respect for the country.

In a statement in Lagos yesterday by its interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the resignation of South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won, over his government’s much-criticised poor handling of the April 16 ferry disaster that left over 300 dead or missing, must jolt the conscience of Nigerian officials who have been found wanting when they have found themselves in similar situations. It said: ‘’Until our leaders hold themselves to higher standards, as it is done in other democracies around the world, and take responsibility when necessary, they will continue to perpetuate impunity, celebrate mediocrity

and cling to power at all cost, even when it is clear that there are not serving any other interest but theirs.’’

According to the party, the resignation of the prime minister was the culmination of widespread public criticism of the government over the handling of the ferry disaster, especially the slow pace of recovery of the bodies of victims and the conflicting information given by the government over the tragedy. The prime minister stepped down even though he had visited the families of the victims, just like the president of South Korea.

‘’Compare this with the situation in our country, where about 20 job seekers died in a stampede that was directly caused by poor planning and execution by a government agency on March 15, 2014, and for which the supervising minister blamed the victims instead of accepting responsibility.

‘’Compare this with the aftermath of the killing of 75 citizens and wounding of over 200 in a bombing at a bus station in Nyanya, after which the president quickly embarked on an illegal campaign rally in Kano during which he was dancing ‘skelewu’ on the graves of the victims, or his trip to Ibadan for a birthday party.

‘’Compare this with business-as-usual posture of the federalgovernment and the playing up of the controversy surrounding Tuesday’s (tomorrow) political rally by the PDP in Adamawa State, even as over 200 schoolgirls have continued to languish in the den of the insurgents in the Sambisa Forest,”  APC added.

The party also expressed worry that   President Goodluck Jonathan has not visited the families of the abducted schoolchildren to offer them support and succour, neither has he visited the families of the students who were murdered in Yobe in February