The Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP, has reacted to President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-appointment of two top government officials and 11 personal staff less than 24 hours after the opposition parties dragged him to court.
The CUPP had asked the court to restrain those two officials – the Secretary to Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha and the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari – and others who have been illegally occupying their former offices after the expiration of their tenure on May 28, 2019.
In a statement on Friday, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, CUPP spokesperson, insisted that the President cannot backdate appointments.
“We are surprised that if not for our decision to approach the court, the President would have continued to look the other way as if he is not answerable to the Constitution while these officials continued in their offices and be drawing salaries and allowances from government coffers illegally”, he said.
“While commending the President for finally seeing reasons to announce these re-appointements, we make bold to say that this is not enough. There are still many of his former aides that are still continuing in office illegally and he knows them.
“CUPP also insists that the President could not in this circumstance backdate the effective date of the appointments as that would be tantamount to an attempt to legitimise an illegality.
“This backdating confirms that the officers were in office without subscribing to the oath of office and oath of allegiance and without declaring their assets as provided by the Constitution. This illegality cannot be cured by mere backdating of letters and the officers are not deserving of any salaries and allowances.
“In the eyes of the law, those former presidential aides are only impersonating since they have not been re-appointed and should be stopped completely from parading.
“Our date with the President in court is therefore not negotiable until the needful is done in line with the Constitution.
“We shall not drop the case we instituted in court until all these impostors are re-appointed or told to stop occupying their offices illegally,” he said..
The opposition coalition asked that the President immediately transmit a letter to the Senate President seeking approval of the number of Special Advisers he needs and for him to make such appointments legal.
They also enjoined the President to forward the list of his cabinet immediately as there is urgency needed in fixing Nigeria.
The CUPP condemned the “glaring lopsided nature of the 13 appointments President Buhari announced. Out of the 13, 10 appointments were made from just one section of the country while other sections shared the remaining three, two of which are photographers”.
“This is a clear show of lack of trust in people from other parts of the country on the part of the President.
“We therefore urge the President to ensure that his appointments reflect federal character. He should stop using his appointments to promote disunity and national distrust”, it added.
