Suspicion as Buhari says ‘Jonathan transition team tricky’’

All Progressives Congress (APC) President Elect, Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) has raised issues indicating mutual suspicion of the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan.

 Director, Media and Communication of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Garba Shehu, has described the transition committee, set up by President Goodluck Jonathan, as trickish.

The committee set up by Jonathan, who lost the March 28 presidential election, is expected to meet with the one to be set up by the President-elect, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), ahead of the May 29 inauguration of the new administration.

But Shehu, in an opinion article, which he released on Sunday, said Jonathan’s committee was constituted by “the worst of our prejudices.”

He warned the Buhari-led incoming administration to be careful about its choice of people who would constitute its own version of the committee.

He stated, “The President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has earned an incredibly high amount of goodwill following his acceptance of the outcome of the election, which itself had the effect of de-escalating tensions not just among Nigerians but all over the continent.

“But the President’s committee on transition and handover looks to be a trickish one. It seems to be like one drawn to ‘massage’ the numbers and ensure safety for ‘team Jonathan’.

“Some names on that list have certainly made the eyes pop out of their sockets. In the President’s list, you have men and women who reflect the worst of our prejudices; men and women who have made themselves the mouthpieces for everything regressive.

“This is one reason why President Buhari and his party cannot be too careful on choosing who they will give their part of the assignment to. There is no room for complacency in doing this either. Nothing that puts the new government at a risk should be allowed to happen.”

Shehu, who warned that politicians should be excluded from the committee to be set up by Buhari, insisted that the committee should be peopled by technocrats.