President Goodluck Jonathan has been accused of setting a trap for the incoming government of Major-General Muhammadu Buhari by embarking on unnecessary last-minute appointments as well as the removal and immediate replacement of heads of strategic government parastatals.

The allegation was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday in Port Harcourt by the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“We are appalled and disappointed by this gale of appointments, sacks and replacements by a go-slow president who was hitherto known for his inability to remove erring public officers and to replace ministers and heads of government agencies who either retired or resigned their appointments.

“The last-minute rush by President Jonathan to remove and replace heads of strategic government departments and agencies is therefore nothing but an attempt to set a trap for the incoming Buhari administration in the hope that reviewing these illegal actions would result in the loss of goodwill by the successor-administration,” Rivers APC said in the statement signed by the chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya.

It added: “To us this rash of sacks and appointments apart from unnecessarily over-heating the polity is also distracting the incoming administration. We wonder why all these late sackings and appointments at the twilight of this administration that has caused our nation a lot of hardship which will take the administration of General Buhari much time and efforts to mitigate.”

Rivers APC advised the incoming administration “to reverse some of these vindictive sacks and unwarranted appointments aimed at planting mediocres that will undermine the lofty ideas of APC and present APC in bad light for the 2019 general elections. We should not accept this in the interest of both our great party and future of our dear nation”.

The party further counselled Jonathan to concern himself with his handover notes and smooth transfer of power to the incoming administration and refrain from further acts of illegality.

Rivers APC, in the statement, also commended the party’s national leadership for acting in a timely manner to stop the influx of PDP members into the party.

“This principled stance by the APC national leadership will go a long way to strengthen our democracy as PDP members now have no other option than to remain in their party and form a strong opposition that will keep us on our toes. It will also go a long way to make our politicians to believe in their political parties and their ideologies instead of jumping ship at the earliest opportunity.

“PDP has for the past 16 years ruined our nation. To allow such mischievous, greedy and unprincipled politicians to have any foothold in our great party will result in avoidable contamination.

PDP members should, therefore, stay back in their party and allow us to see how quickly we can clear the mess they created in their 16 years in power,” the statement concluded.