The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, said that the allegations by the Presidency, that certain Nigerians, particularly the elites, were waging a smear campaign against President Muhammadu Buhari, has further confirmed that the administration was being haunted by the shadows of its own failures.
This is as the party counseled Buhari to stop his new-found pleading with Nigerians to award him an unmerited pass mark, stressing that such plea in the face of the manifest failures of his administration amounts to an assault on the sensibilities of Nigerians and an attempt to corrupt the records.
The PDP particularly said that it was clear that the Buhari-led APC administration was plagued by all-round failure in governance.
According to the party; “If indeed it has any record of success in any sector, Mr. President would not be begging Nigerians, even in his home state, Katsina and among his party members, to award him a pass mark”.
The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, yesterday, said that it was, however, absurd that President Buhari was still pleading for an undeserved pass mark when his administration has plunged the nation into the worst economic crisis, wrecked the productive sectors, borrowed from all corners of the world, stagnated infrastructure, elevated corruption, allowed APC leaders to loot and stash away over N15trillion from the national coffers, while leaving bandits, terrorists, kidnappers to continue to ravage the nation.
It further said, “If the Buhari-led APC administration had done well, will the APC be going about orchestrating a membership revalidation and begging people to award it fictitious pass marks?
“President Buhari’s approval rating has fallen so low that even members of his party, the APC, have abandoned him to seek for direction and leadership elsewhere.
“The situation is so bad that barely two years into his four years and final tenure, leaders of his party, the APC, are already searching frantically for his replacement with some of them already commencing campaign activities.
“It is rather appalling that instead of facing reality, the Buhari Presidency is threatening Nigerians and overheating the polity with allegations of plots to wage a ‘smear campaign’ against President Buhari in unnamed online newspapers,” it said.
The PDP stressed that such allegation is only symptomatic of a failed administration that is looking for who to blame for its woes, adding that this is more so as any fair appraisal of the Buhari-led APC will only present a litany of failures and woes.
The party, however, expressed the hope that the allegation by the presidency is not a ploy for a renewed clampdown on the media and dissenting voices, particularly those now arising among well-meaning APC leaders, who are completely disenchanted by the incompetence and corruption inherent in their party and its administration.
The PDP said that Buhari and his APC should know that Nigerians have moved on and cannot be swayed again by false performance claims and unfounded propaganda.