FG, APC knock PDP govs again

The All Progressives Congress (APC) National Working Committee  (NWC) has asked governors on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to face the mandate of the office instead of turning themselves into doomsday advocates.

The APC was reacting to the statement credited to the governors on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) asking President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to resign from office if he could not fix the economy.

Reacting to the governors’ demand, National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka in a statement on Sunday, said the governors blaming President Tinubu of inefficiency are also bereft of ideas in turning around the lives of citizens in their respective states.

“Like all citizens, governors are entitled to free speech. However, that right must be exercised against a standard of respectability and reasonableness. Reckless utterances capable of inflaming passions and social upheaval must be avoided. Likening Nigeria to Venezuela as the PDP governors did in a recent communique, even under the prevailing challenging economic and security contexts of Nigeria, is unhelpful and smacks of unrighteous indignation.

“Rather than live up to their responsibilities as chief executive officers of Nigeria’s federating units, the PDP governors have turned themselves into a band of doomsday vocalists, raising their voices to deafening decibels intended to drown the groans of their citizens battered by their critical inertia, ineptitude and dismal performance as governors of their states.”

“As the federal buck “ultimately stops” at the president’s table, so the state buck “ultimately stops” at the governors’ table. The PDP governors’ call to the President to throw in the towel is nothing short of self-indictment. It is cringeworthy that the same governors that have never justified the massive federal allocations to their states, that have perennially stifled and dispossessed local government administrations of federally allocated funds are talking about “buck”.

“How can a governor of a state in utter shambles like Delta participate, barefaced, in a talk about “buck”? Has the PDP governor of Delta state even attempted to justify the over N483.57 billion federal allocation to the state in 2023? Which part or sector of Delta state bears witness to the use of that huge allocation? Delta state retirees have remained desperately pulverized by PDP’s uninterrupted reckless rule since the advent of this republic in 1999.

“Since the buck also stops at the PDP governors’ table at the state level, they should practice what they preach by resigning from their offices rather than blaming the federal administration for their utter failure to mobilize massive resources at their disposal to improve the living conditions of their people.”

“President Bola Tinubu is taking responsibility and providing solid leadership in this historic season of deep and enduring economic transformation in our country. The administration has initiated bold and far-reaching reforms that are indispensable to economic recovery, sustainable growth and prosperity. Our people are going through transient but painful difficulties that the administration is supremely determined to mitigate as these policies begin to yield desired results.

“Nigerians deserve to live in peace and security, with access to basic social and economic amenities. Our party and administration urges patience during these turbulent times as our nation soars unstoppably to firmer grounds and more prosperous future.”

Similarly, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has described the statement by the PDP governors calling for the resignation of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a distraction to the presidency.

The minister said the call is nothing but an attempt at distracting people who should instead be busy supporting the president’s efforts at bringing relief to the Nigerians.

He said the PDP and its governors should not be seeking, through back-door intimidation what they had consistently failed to achieve by democratic means, since 2015.

Idris said those who could not bring transformational change when they had a lengthy chance to, should not seek to interrupt or distract those who are busy at work on the vision that Nigerians elected them to implement.

“The administration of President Bola Tinubu has also, since inception, generously extended financial support to all the state governments, regardless of partisan affiliation. In addition, the removal of the petrol subsidy—which, incidentally, was one of the main planks of the PDP presidential campaign—has swelled the revenues of all States, including the PDP States. To whom more has been given, more is therefore expected.

“The president and his administration recognise the unfinished business of revamping our national economy kickstarted by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, through programmes focused on large-scale infrastructure, social welfare, prioritizing the equipping and welfare of the military and security agencies, and reclaiming Nigeria’s strategic place in the comity of nations.

“Boko Haram and its affiliates, on the ascendancy in 2014/2015, have since been decimated, and similar bold gains are now being made with bandits and other criminals,” the minister said.

He stated that Nigerians had not forgotten that it was the APC administration that cleared several liabilities left behind by the PDP government, such as subsidy claims by oil marketers, Paris Club Refunds, unpaid pensions, gratuities, and salary arrears owed various categories of pensioners from liquidated and existing State-Owned Enterprises.

Idris said major oil sector reforms that the PDP touted for years but could not deliver – passage of the PIB, new refineries, as well as the revamp of existing ones, and so on – are the very real and continuing legacies of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

“All of these have been accomplished without access to the oil windfall that the PDP government enjoyed for much of the time that it was in power, and also against the backdrop of the most devastating global shock since the Second World War: the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We must continue to state these facts so Nigerians will know where we are coming from, and appreciate what is being done in its full context.”

“President Tinubu is not and will never be overwhelmed by the current challenges the country is facing. He will not abdicate his responsibilities. He will courageously continue to wrestle with the challenges and surmount them, laying a durable foundation for the new Nigeria that is emerging.

“He has also never shied away from acknowledging the pain of ongoing reforms, and has seized every opportunity to assure Nigerians that inside the pain of the reforms lie the seeds of lasting prosperity and national development.

“To the PDP Governors, let us reiterate: This is not the time for distraction. It is time instead for the rolling up of sleeves, to support and complement the hard work of the President and his administration, the minister added.