By TEMIDAYO AKINSUYI

Elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, on Sunday said the statement by the presidency of an alleged plot to overthrow President Muhammadu Buhari’s government is uncalled-for, saying Nigerians may not believe them again if they continue making such statements going forward.

The presidency, last week, said there was an alleged plot by some Nigerians, working with foreign elements, to overthrow the current administration.

However, speaking with Daily Independent, Yakassai, a former presidential adviser to the late President Shehu Shagari, said if it is indeed true that the presidency has concrete evidence of a planned coup, what it should have done is to swing into action by arresting and prosecuting the masterminds instead of issuing statements. He said, “I read the news where they said they are aware of a conspiracy to overthrow the president.

This is a very serious issue. What I expect from the presidency is not a statement of this nature because there are so many statements like this in the past.

“I think it is time for the presidency to act.

If they continue making statements without acting, people will tend not to believe them in the future and it will be disastrous for the country if the citizens cannot trust their leadership.

“This time, I think the government should let actions speak louder than words.

Let them arrest those who are scheming to overthrow the government and arraign them before the court of law.

That is more credible and helpful for the country than making these statements which may make people brand their statements as ridiculous in the future”.

Also speaking on calls by some Nigerians on the Federal Government to convene a national conference, Yakassai said that the government should concentrate efforts on implementing reports of past conferences.

While noting the 2023 general elections is less than two years away, he said convening another conference now will amount to waste of time and resources and it may negatively affect the forthcoming general elections. “There are many national conferences that we have had even before the one of 2014.

I wasn’t happy that former President (Goodluck) Jonathan who initiated the 2014 national conference did not find it necessary to issue a White Paper and accept which part of the conference that the government accepted and which part they will reject.

If we had done that, we would have gone far by now.

“There is no need for another conference when the recommendations of the previous conferences were not implemented. You can’t keep on holding conferences and making recommendations which are not implemented.

I will prefer the government to take the report of the previous conferences, pick each one they consider appropriate and implement them rather than holding another conference. (Daily INDEPENDENT)

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