COVID-19: Buhari, APC betrayed almajarai, poor Nigerians ― PDP

President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have completely betrayed almajarai and other downtrodden, poor and vulnerable Nigerians after using them to get into power in 2015, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged.

The party said the manifest neglect and dehumanising treatment meted out on poor and vulnerable Nigerians since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic by the All Progressives Congress exposed the true intent of the Party.

“The PDP notes that APC’s disdain and desertion of our citizens had further exposed it as a deceitful party which used lies, propaganda and false promises to mislead the people in 2015 to denounce a system of governance which had their interest at heart and worked day and night to ensure a better life for them.”

PDP further alleged that “today, the APC and its government have succeeded in wrecking the lives of ordinary Nigerians; stole their common patrimony; rendered many homeless, turned their joy into sadness, hope into hopelessness, fortune into abject poverty; reneged on all their enticing promises, swindled and abandoned our citizens to a life of misery.

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“From Katsina to Lagos, Kano to Edo, Kaduna to Osun, Yobe to Ekiti; Plateau to Kogi and all the places where the APC has left footprints at the federal and state levels, the downtrodden people have been exploited and now abandoned.

“Today, the APC relishes in abusing and insulting Nigerian youths; from Kano to Lagos, they deny them access to economic opportunities and jobs, yet tag them as lazy.”

The PDP said the ruling “APC has denied Nigerian youths good education, health care, comfortable homes and access to basic necessities of life, yet demean them as outcasts and undesirable elements fit only for life on the streets and as tools to manipulate elections for corrupt APC leaders.:

The party, in a statement signed by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, KolaOlogbondiyan, said the ‘APC posed as the messiah; promised free houses, millions of jobs, monthly allowances and even to bring the value of dollar to one naira. President Buhari promised more prosperity and to rout out insurgency with the snap of the finger.”

It said, the ruling party instead reneged on these promises creating an atmosphere of hunger and starvation, intimidation of dissenting voices, alleged untold corruption, neglect of infrastructure, annexation of electoral and judicial system, violation of human rights, in addition to the escalation of insurgency and bloodletting while the President, who promised to lead from the front, recedes very far into the luxury and safety of Aso Presidential villa.

According to the PDP,  “Nigerians can recall how the PDP championed the cause of the downtrodden, established Almajiri schools, the e-wallet initiatives for rural farmers.”

The party said it also “built new universities, revamped the economy, overhauled our health care system, established the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), revamped the mortgage system to give Nigerians access to own homes and expanded the political space to promote youth and women participation in governance among others.”

The opposition party said the “APC has reversed all these gains and President Buhari and the ruling APC cannot point to any people-oriented project they have executed to better the lot of the poor.”

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE