No, Buhari has not met Nigerians’ expectations —PDP

THE national caretaker committee of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) has taken President Muhammadu Buhari to task over his assertion that he had met Nigerians’ expectations in the nearly two years of his government, saying that the administration has failed in all ramifications.

In a reaction to the claim made by the president in his Easter message, the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led PDP caretaker committee, said the achievements of the last PDP administration under President Goodluck Jonathan had been reversed under the present All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.

In a statement issued by the spokesman of the committee, Dayo Adeyeye, in Abuja, on Sunday, the party said it read with shock what President Buhari claimed in the message that his administration had improved security, especially in the North-East, sustained the campaign against corruption and had taken steps to revitalise the economy.

Urging Nigerians to reflect on the state of affairs before and after Buhari took over nearly two years ago, the party reviewed progress on security, war on corruption and the economy and concluded that the APC had failed in every sector.

“Notwithstanding, before the 2015 general election, the Jonathan-led administration was able to procure sizeable number of warheads, ammunition and other modern weaponry to fight the Boko Haram terrorist group.

“This breakthrough led to the successful dislodgment of the terrorist sect in the North-East before the March 28, 2015 elections.

“Nigerians can testify to the gallant display by the Nigerian Armed Forces that allowed elections to take place in virtually all the wards and local government areas of Borno, Adamawa, Kebbi and Gombe states.

“The result of the election from these states gave President Buhari the edge in the presidential election. APC governors and officials who routinely condemn President Jonathan’s anti-insurgency efforts forgot that without the relative peace in those states at the time, there would have been no elections from which they could emerge as governors.

“The truth of the matter was that the insurgents were on the back foot, in hasty retreat and with their backs to the wall by February to March of 2015.

“For the record, the PDP not only defeated Boko Haram before it handed over power in 2015, we also reduced kidnapping and other anti-social vices in the country and there was palpable state of peace in Nigeria as of May 2015,” the statement said.

On the war against corruption, the PDP NCC noted that the government had been selective and targeted only political opponents of government.

On the economy, the PDP noted that the sector had remained comatose since the coming of the APC, which it said inherited a healthy economy.

“The recession we are experiencing today in the country is as a result of the failure of the APC-led administration to properly manage our economy. The Buhari government had no economic plan until March 2017 when it launched the so-called recovery plan,” the statement added.