The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the claim by President Muhammadu Buhari that it squandered the sum of $500bn oil proceeds within the 16 years it was in power, as baseless and unfounded.
The party urged the President not to allow his aides railroad him into peddling such “Groundless allegations and bandying of unverified figures,” as doing that could dent his personality.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement yesterday, said the figures alluded to by the President does not add up or reflect the actual oil related profile of the nation during the period and urged the President not to allow his handlers set him up for public ridicule.
“The entire country is aware that the Presidency is on a feverish mood over their bound-to-fail 2019 re-election bid for which they have resorted to making spurious claims against the PDP even when it is clear to Nigerians that the PDP has since rebranded while preponderance of those who mismanaged the nation’s resources have now found a safe haven in the Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC).
“The party challenged President Buhari to name one corrupt person in the repositioned and rebranded PDP and it will hand him a list of an army of corrupt persons who are hiding in his APC including those who funded his 2015 presidential campaigns with stolen money in addition to his many cronies who are now frittering away billion of naira under his watch.
“We know that President Buhari did not source his figures, otherwise we would have directly taken him to task on the veracity of his claims and detestable image of his party.
We, however ask, is the President and his handlers not aware of the humongous corruption going on under the Buhari Presidency? What have they to say to the recent Transparency International (TI) report which shows that corruption has worsened under the Buhari administration? What have they to say about the official memo detailing shady oil deals to the tune of N9 trillion ($25 billion) at the NNPC which is directly under the purview of the President as Minister of Petroleum resources?
“The Presidency is yet to address its complicity in the heavy sleazes in the National Health Insurance Scheme where billions of naira have allegedly been siphoned by their agents, in spite of the Treasury Single Account (TSA); the alleged diversion of N1.1 trillion worth of crude oil and the frittering of billions of naira meant for rehabilitation of Internally Displaced Persons in the northeast, all to service APC interests?
“Nigerians are alarmed by the President’s claim that his administration inherited a collapsing economy when it is common knowledge that he was actually handed a thriving economy, ranked the third largest in Africa and one of the fastest growing in the world,” the statement read in part.
The party also mocked President’s Buhari’s monetary policy, asking “Has Mr. President forgotten that when he assumed office in 2015, the value of our naira was N185 to 1USD? Nigerians are aware that the naira went as low as N510 to 1USD and in case Mr. President is not aware, Nigerians are also ridiculing his much-touted strengthening of the naira.”
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to show true “leadership by visiting troubled Dapchi community, Yobe State.”
The PDP urged Buhari to “halt the feasting with the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains in Aso Villa”, and visit the area to get first-hand information on the “circumstances surrounding the abduction of the 110 school girls under his watch.”
A statement titled, “Mr President Sir, Go to Dapchi” signed by PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, yesterday, said if Buhari heeds the advise, he will “bridge the disconnect between him and Nigerians, who daily lament the aloofness of their leader.”
The statement reads: “It was disheartening that while the parents of our abducted daughters are wailing and the insurgents are fleeing deeper, the President and his APC leaders are busy feasting in the Presidential Villa and plotting their bound-to-fail 2019 re-election campaign.
“President Buhari has completely reneged on his assurances, before his election, to be a father to all and to lead the fight against insurgency from the fronts.
“Nigerians are worried that he has now allowed himself to be holed in the safety and luxury of the Presidential Villa while citizens are being slaughtered and taken captives by marauders and insurgents.
“Nigerians are shocked that the presidential mandate of protecting lives has now been reduced to a cosmetic dispatching of ministers and persons with no knowledge of security, including those known to be falsifying performance indices, on mere fact-finding missions, while machinery for proactive security measures is left unattended.
“Today, Nigerians are daily slaughtered and taken as captives because those who have the direct mandate to protect them are more interested in their ill-lucked 2019 re-election ambition while the citizens are left to whatever fate that befalls them”.
“Painfully, Nigerians are yet to see any concrete action taken by the Buhari Presidency to apprehend the perpetrators of the gruesome killings in Benue, Taraba, Zamfara, Adamawa, Borno, Plateau, Nasarawa and Yobe, among other states, where our citizens are being hacked down by marauders and insurgents.
“They are yet to see any step so far taken, outside empty promises, to end or even reduce the carnage.
“Most appalling is the fact that while the parents of our 110 abducted Dapchi daughters are still wailing and insurgents driving into deeper recesses, the President and his party men are busy feasting in the Presidential Villa and plotting their 2019 campaigns; of course, with funds meant for the wellbeing of the people and our nation.
“Indeed, this President Buhari-led and discredited APC-controlled Federal Government holds Nigerians in total disdain.
“This administration is completely insensitive to the plight of the people, and it is not a surprise that majority of Nigerians are more than prepared to reject them at the polls come 2019.
“We, therefore, plead with President Buhari to show leadership by immediately calling off his feasting in the Presidential Villa, and take that bold step to visit Dapchi, where a soothing word from him will be a balm for the distraught community.
“We also urge him to take decisive steps to scale up action for the return of our girls in spite of the huge speculations that have filled the air.
“The President must keep his words to lead from the fronts,” the PDP added.