Breaking news: Stop insulting Jonathan, ex-ministers tell Buhari

Ministers, who served under former President Goodluck Jonathan have told President Muhammadu Buhari to stop unwarranted attacks on the former president.

Goodluck Jonathan and  Muhammadu Buhari

They have also asked Buhari to show respect to Jonathan in his actions and utterances as a former president of Nigeria, who paved the way for his emergence.

The ministers made the call in a joint statement released in Abuja on Sunday.

The former ministers maintained that it was wrong for the Buhari administration to cast aspersion on Jonathan and the ministers who worked under him, deliberately discrediting the monumental achievements and the innovative measures it adopted to tackle corruption in the country.

The former officials in a joint statement released in Abuja on Sunday and signed by former National Planning Minister, Dr Abubakar O. Suleiman pointed out that while Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress had the right to chart their path, they considered the vilification of the Jonathan’s administration as ill-intentioned, unduly partisan, and in bad faith.

They said it was also wrong for the new administration to portray each and every member of the Jonathan administration as corrupt and irresponsible.

The former ministers who boasted that they served Nigeria diligently and to the best of their ability, pointed out that the results of their sweat was what Nigerians were enjoying under the Buhari administration and should be so applauded rather than being vilified.

They insisted that contrary to the claim by the APC, Jonathan did not encourage corruption but rather devised means and measures to stamp out corruption within the context of the rule of law.

While calling on Buhari to carry out the probe of whoever he wants to probe, the ministers advised that such inquiry must however follow due process and respect for human rights.

The statement said: “We, the ministers who served under the President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan administration, have watched with increasing alarm and concern the concerted effort by the Buhari administration and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to condemn, ridicule and undermine the efforts of that administration, in addition to impugning the integrity of its individual members.