Presidency needs refresher course in history –APC

 

Lai Mohammed

The All Progressives Congress on Friday said the Presidency needs a refresher course in history if it is not aware that a leader has had cause to resign in the middle of a war.

The APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said in a statement in Abuja that a former British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, resigned from office on May 10, 1940 after Adolf Hitler forced the allies to retreat from Norway, thus changing the course of World War II.

Mohammed was responding to claim by the Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, that no President resigns in the middle of a war.

The APC statement read, “According to available information, Chamberlain led Britain through the first eight months of World War II but had to resign after the allies were forced to retreat from Norway, because of his belief that a government supported by all parties was essential for the unity needed to defeat Adolf Hitler.

“The resignation paved the way for Winston Churchill who later became the hero of the War.

“APC therefore said the call by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on President Goodluck Jonathan to resign in view of the widespread insecurity in the land and the fact that some parts of Nigeria are now under occupation by terrorists is neither extraordinary nor unprecedented.

‘’The call by one of our leaders is about taking responsibility. President Jonathan is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“If under his watch Nigerian territories are being annexed progressively by insurgents, and all that he has demonstrated so far is sheer cluelessness and incompetence, it is time for him to take responsibility and quit in the national interest, to pave the way for a leader who can lead the country to victory.’’

The party, however, said the blame game and name calling by the Presidency targeted at the opposition constituted a mere distraction.

The APC said the Presidency was right to say that when terrorists attacked the United States in September 2001, the leaders of the Democratic Party did not demand a resignation of President George Bush, but rather they rose in defence of the American nation to support the various measures taken by the President to defeat the Al-Qaeda terrorists.