PDP Slams President Buhari For Embarrassing Nigeria During Trip To US

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) listed many “sins” the federal government under President Muhammadu Buhari had committed and strongly criticized the Nigerian leader for his statements made during his visit to the United States of America.

The Punch reports that among the sins of Buhari’s government the opposition party named the alleged failure by the president to achieve anything meaningful during his US trip and his maltreatment of Patience Jonathan.

Speaking with journalists on July 26 in Abuja, Olisa Metuh, the PDP’s national publicity secretary, stated that neither the president nor the All Progressives Congress (APC) had learnt anything from the trip.

“Now that the visit has come and gone, our fear is that nothing whatsoever has been learnt or gained. What we continue to receive as a nation have been embarrassing disagreements, accusations and counter-accusations, blames and denials on very important issues due to lack of tact and skill in the management of state matters by the APC-led administration.”

“It is disheartening that rather than secure any sort of tangible gain for the fight against terrorism, which has lost steam under the APC watch, with insurgents, who were pushed to the verge of surrender by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, now surging back and spreading into the country, we get nothing but exchanges and disagreements between the presidency and their American hosts.”

“This is not only embarrassing but also a worrisome indication of crass ineptitude in the handling of international affairs on the part of the present administration,” he said.

Metuh also recalled that Buhari told a stunned audience in the USA that: “constituencies that gave me 97 per cent cannot in all honesty be treated, on some issues, with constituencies that gave me 5 per cent.”

He said Nigerians were shocked by the president’s statement in which he was quoted as saying that he would administer the country on the basis of the voting pattern in the last general elections.

The PDP claimed the statement signifies that Buhari’s government will be discriminatory.

“Never in the history of our nation has a president made such a divisive and vindictive declaration. Never in the history of Nigeria has a president made such tendentious, biased and partisan statement, a blade on the chord of unity of his own country and people,” he said.

“We demand that the president come clear on this matter. Would this form the basis of government appointments rather than adherence to merit and the principle of federal character as enshrined in the constitution? Would it form the basis for distribution of infrastructural development projects and other essential interventions rather than the principle of equity and equality of federating units as stipulated by the constitution? Is this a deliberate policy by the APC or his personal stance? Are we expecting the same discriminatory policy from APC state governors?,” the PDP spokeman queried.

“May we remind President Buhari that his declaration to run a discriminatory government is in clear violation of his oath of office as President wherein he publicly swore “that in all circumstances, I will do right to all manner of people, according to law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will…”