PDP Asks Buhari to Stop Making Excuses

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described as evasive, diversionary and pre-emptive President Muhammadu Buhari’s excuses, describing them as signs for possible failure in delivering on his campaign promises to Nigerians.

The opposition PDP said it was unfortunate that Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) who were privy to the nation’s dwindling economy occasioned by the global economic downturn and fall in international oil price, even before the start of the campaigns, chose to deceive Nigerians with bogus promises, only to now resort to excuses after using the promises to secure power at the centre.

This is just as the immediate past Minister of National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Suleiman, has faulted the claim of President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday that he inherited a near “empty treasury,” saying former president, Goodluck Jonathan, left about $30 billion before handing over.

PDP lampooned both APC and Buhari, stating that the ruling party is confused and lacks direction on moving Nigeria forward.

According to the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh in a statement on Tuesday, “PDP  party notes with dismay President Buhari’s statement on Monday that Nigerians should not expect much from his first 100 days in office on claims that he met a ‘virtually empty treasury and huge debts’, noting that such only underlines the fact that the present administration is really not equipped to face the challenges of governance.

“While we restate our resolve to engage only in credible and issues-based opposition, we want the president and the APC to note that their plea for patience from Nigerians does not arise, because ab initio, there has been no indication that they are actually serious and determined to deliver on their campaign promises upon which they rode to power.

“Of course Nigerians are willing to support and cooperate with the president, but we are worried that the picture emerging from his presidency and his party does not in any way inspire hope in the citizenry, especially as they have continued to show that theirs is ostensibly a matter of obtaining power by false pretences.

“Buhari and the APC must know that Nigerians did not give them the mandate to engage in frivolous excuses and pleas but to hit the ground running with solutions and quick fixes they promised during the campaigns.

“We ask, is Buhari’s statement an admission of poor knowledge of national and international economic affairs or does it underscore the lack of capacity and skills by the administration to effectively harness and galvanize resources and potential inherent in Nigeria which has already been nurtured as Africa’s largest economy and one of the fasted growing in the world?

“Even if Nigerians decide to wait endlessly, we wonder how much the president can achieve amidst the flip-flops from his presidency and cacophony of interests from his party leaders struggling to enlarge their selfish political and economic frontiers.

“How can one reconcile President Buhari’s statement with the recent ridiculous and misleading claim by APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, that this administration has achieved in three weeks what the immediate past administration did not achieve in five years?

PDP added that: “Since after their electoral victory, the APC and the president have continued to expose their lack of commitment towards their campaign promises.

“We recall that on May 5, 2015, twenty-four days before his inauguration, President Buhari at a meeting with APC leaders in Abuja opened the excuse galore when he expressed his nervousness to deliver in office, adducing that ‘Rome was not built in a day.’

“We also recall that in their attempt to find an escape route in one of their bogus campaign promises, the APC denied that the president ever promised Nigerians that they will end insurgency two months after inauguration but had to swallow their words after the PDP confronted them with the April 22, 2015 CNN interview where Buhari made that promise.

“Indeed, we empathise with the president knowing that the confusion and clear lack of direction in his party have not helped matters, but we urge him to rise up to the challenge, take urgent steps and disentangle himself from the selfish and unpatriotic tendencies of APC leaders, especially given the fact that Nigerians gave him a mandate for which they will continue to hold him accountable.”

In view of this, PDP restated that it was eager to see the APC and the president unveil their economic road map and blueprint for governance “so as to enable us through robust opposition, provide credible alternatives and options for their policies and programmes in the overall interest of our dear nation.”

Meanwhile, Suleiman described the report as “unscientific and unfair,” asking Nigerians not to accept Buhari’s claim until there is substantive evidence to back it up.

“It will be misleading for our respected President Buhari and indeed the ruling APC to claim to have met an empty treasury,” he said in a statement issued late Tuesday.

“Government can’t tell us that there is no Excess Crude Account (ECA), Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) or are we saying the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and related agencies had not in the last one month been generating revenue?

“Until they are able to prove they had no receipts from these government agencies in the last one month before Nigerians can now buy into Mr. President’s claim of an empty treasury.”

Lauding the administration of Jonathan, according to an online news medium, TheCable, Suleiman justified the deficit that Buhari’s predecessor left behind.

“Money made by government is meant to be spent, and this the immediate past administration did responsibly,” he said.

“Every government, even in the so-called western world, including the US which today remains one of the largest debtors nations in the world, government operates on deficit.

“Is it not on record that President Obama inherited US$3 trillion debt, a collapsed banking sector and mortgage industry, yet he never raised any alarm. None of these has happened in Nigeria under Jonathan.

“Under Jonathan, Nigeria became the largest Africa economy and 26th in the world amidst deadly security challenges and dwindling international prices of oil. In spite of all these, the federal government never owed salary.

“Upon inception of Jonathan’s administration, it is on record that the price of oil at the global stage was over $100 per barrel and at the close of the administration, it dropped to $46. Yet, there wasn’t collapse of government and federal civil servants were paid as and when due.”