'Saint' Jonathan was a better President than 'militocratic' Buhari, Senator says

Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West - PDP) has hailed former president, Goodluck Jonathan, as a better leader that current president, Muhammadu Buhari.

Despite publicly supporting Buhari before he was elected president in 2015, Senator Melaye has been one of the most vocal critics of the president's administration.

After months of public animosity and mounting court cases against him, the lawmaker was part of a dozen lawmakers that dumped the ruling All Progressives' Congress (APC) for the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in July.

While speaking during an interview on ARISE TV, published on Friday, August 17, 2018, the lawmaker said he has no regrets about antagonising Jonathan in the past, but hailed him as a better president than Buhari.

He said, "At the time I was criticising President Jonathan, I have no regrets criticising him, like I have no regrets now criticising the Buhari administration, but I want to say if you carry out comparative analysis between the Jonathan admnistration and this (Buhari's administration), I would say President Jonathan is far far mileage above this present administration."

While further describing Jonathan as a 'saint' and calling Buhari's administration 'militocratic', Melaye said he was never persecuted by the previous administration as is happening now.

"There was never a time that the Jonathan administration arraigned me or created false charges against me. There was never a time I was maltreated or even attempted to kill me. But in this present dispensation, I've not even gone to the streets, but you can see what I've gone through," he said.

Buhari's government is deaf and dumb - Melaye

Melaye further condemned Buhari's administration for being unaccountable to the people and without a vision to lead the country. He said the administration has been unable to solve Nigeria's problems and cannot be allowed continue.

He said, "This government is deaf and dumb. This government is not pro-people. There's a government in government, a cartel that has completely hijacked this government. And a situation whereby the president often at times just comes out to say he doesn't even know what's happening calls for serious concern.

"Like I said, there are a lot of square pegs in round holes. You cannot give capentry job to tailors, it'll never ever happen. This particular government has no agenda.

"It is unheard of in the 21st century that you have a Federal Executive Council with no single economist. It is outrageously unacceptable.

"All the problems inherited or created by this government have not been ameliorated and there's a double jeopardy - no capacity, no capability. When these two happen, you're going for a disaster and I cannot be part of that.

"I cannot be supporting this government that is visionless and using all its time to fight the opposition.

"We cannot continue like that. The government must be sincere with the people and the people must have the temerity and audacity to also hold their government accountable."

The lawmaker stressed that the legislative arm of the government will never bow to being made "a parastatal of the presidency" and the country's hard-earned democracy must be protected at all costs.