Nigeria 60 Years Backward: PDP Berates Buhari, First Year Anniversary, Second Term in Office

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has berated President Muhammadu Buhari, saying the five years administration of his All Progress Congress (APC)-led Federal Government has taken Nigeria “60 years backward.”

The opposition party said “in line with the assessments of majority of Nigerians, our party views the last five years of Buhari administration as wasteful and could at the best be described as the season of the locusts.”

PDP condemned APC, alleging that the Buhari administration has turned the nation into “a wasteland, devastated her economy, shattered our national dreams, crushed the hope of citizens and set our country backward.”

It further alleged that it’s saddening that May 29, under President Buhari, “has become synonymous with the enthronement of incompetence, insensitive leadership, endemic corruption in high places and governance by propaganda and false performance claims.”

The party accused the APC administration of reversing all the gains achieved by PDP for which May 29 was always celebrated but has now left the country dejected and despondent.

“Under President Buhari, May 29 has become a day of grieving for Nigerians; a day for commemoration of failed promises, reversal of gains achieved by past leaders and retrogression in our body polity as a nation.

“This administration has failed woefully in its three major governance planks of provision of security, economic recovery and fight against corruption.

“In the last five years, the APC administration has done nothing but driving our nation along the precipices; reneged on all its campaign promises, ruined our productive sector, frustrated our farmers, manufacturers and small scale entrepreneurs, devalued our naira, wrecked employment opportunities for our youth, turned our once prosperous nation into the poverty capital of the world while accumulating huge foreign debts for this generation and the unborn.

“Under five years, President Buhari has borrowed from every corner of the world. These include external borrowing of  $10.72 billion (N4.1 trillion) in 2015, $11.41 billion (N4.4 trillion) in 2016, $18.91 billion (N7.3 trillion) in 2017, $25.27 billion (N9.8 trillion) in 2018, $27.68 billion (N10.7 trillion) in 2019 as well as 2020 loans of $3.4 billion (N1.3 trillion) from IMF, $4.4 million (N1.594 billion) internal borrowing, $22.7 billion (N8.8 trillion) external loan and the recently yet to be approved $5.513 billion (N2.1 trillion) waiting before the National Assembly.

“Our party had already alerted Nigerians that with the volume of borrowing, President Buhari and the APC have placed our nation on the international auction market.

“In the last five years, corruption has also worsened in government circle as shown in Transparency International (TI)’s corruption perception index.  Federal Government agencies such as the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) among others have been opened up for pillaging by the cabal in the Presidency and the APC.

“Under the APC administration, insurgents, marauders and bandits, who have been pushed to the fringes under the PDP, have resurged and now having field day ravaging communities and killing our compatriots while government continue in its lip service and empty condolence messages.

“It is distressing that instead of heeding wise counsel to accept failure and avoid making false performance claims, the Buhari Presidency just yesterday, released a list of recycled fictitious achievements, including very insensitive claim of having routed out bandits; even as marauders were pillaging communities and killing our compatriots in Sokoto and other states, particularly in the North-west.

“A look at the list exposed reused figures and data without corresponding verifiable projects in any part of the country, apart from attempts to appropriate PDP projects,” PDP alleged, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan.

The statement charged the President “to wake up to the reality, accept failure and seek help since it has become clear that his administration as presently constituted has devastated our nation and leading us on a journey to nowhere.”