Presidency attacks PDP governors over stance on Buhari’s performance

The Presidency, on Sunday, lambasted governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over their verdict on the performance of President Muhammadu Buhari whose retention of the Petroleum Resources portfolio they had blamed for the revenue leakages in the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.

The governors had reached this conclusion among other things that they attributed to the alleged poor performance of the administration at the end of the recent PDP Governors Forum (PDP-GF) meeting in Aba, Abia State.

But in a reaction to the state chief executives’ position a statement titled: “Issues from the PDP fantasy communique from Umuahai,” issued by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity), described the forum’s communique as “a work of fiction by those who truly believe black is white and one plus one equals three.”

The Presidency maintained that the statement was of “the delusional” who sought to cover up “the serial and criminal failures of the PDP’s long and damaging period in office, which the Muhammadu Buhari administration and All Progressives Congress (APC) have strived these past seven years to repair.”

The statement alleged that under the PDP, the nation had an army full of phantom soldiers whose pay, it alleged went to PDP politicians’ pockets while the nation’s soldiers were under-resourced and died in the fight against terrorist insurgents as it noted that international allies refused to supply Nigeria kit and military aid.

The Presidency statement added: “Today with the APC, the army is resourced, we have fighter jets from our partners, Boko Haram is being driven from every inch of Nigerian territory, and ISWAP’s leader was eliminated in a Nigerian airstrike.

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“We cannot ignore how PDP politicians sought – and continue to seek – to inflame ethnic and religious tensions by refusing to even proffer a solution to the herder-farmer clashes which became most prevalent under their misrule.

“Today with APC in government, there are ranches on Federal land and in state land where there is the willingness to establish them. Clashes are reduced. Lives are saved, and livelihoods are enriched.

“We will always remember how PDP politicians intentionally encouraged and exploited the black market in currency exchange to convert ill-gotten gains to foreign currency and undermine our national currency, then spirited their funds abroad in their billions and into foreign bank accounts.

“Today with APC we support our national currency; we have achieved self-sufficiency in rice and fertilizer production; we refuse to allow greedy politicians and businessmen to hide their money overseas, and instead build an economy here in Nigeria for all.

“We will always know how PDP politicians raided the NNPC, consistently failed to pay into the Federation Account and, in the last year of PDP misrule, $20 billion dollars was simply found ‘missing’.

“Today with APC, funds from NNPC are directly and transparently used to fund social and health programmes – such as COVID-19 response, the construction of roads, bridges and rail, and equipping of hospitals to cope with new and existing challenges.

“And then there are those PDP leaders in attendance who signed the Communique. Who would trust such people with the running of our country?

“Who can believe a word these people say, as they looked outwardly stylish but harrowed by power-sharing and other troubles inwardly?

“These people, who play politics of division and hate, create communal disturbances, need to change.”

The Presidency accused the PDP Governors of pretending that COVID-19 and its consequences on the economy never occurred, reminding them that the pandemic brought suffering to the world.

It added: “The Governors reeled out numbers on the economy, pretending as if the once-in-a-life COVID-19 pandemic, with its huge and devastating effect, disrupting global supply chains, uniformly battering the world economy never happened.

“COVID-19 brought suffering and hardship to the doorstep of the entire global community-less maybe, of the affluent and pretentious PDP Governors-and to the credit of this administration, Nigeria’s economy recovered faster and stronger than the entire world ever imagined.

“Check the facts and leave the politics: What does the country get with this kind of gimmick?”

Recall that the PDP-GF communique had maintained, after reviewing “the excruciating hardship and suffering being meted out to Nigerians by a failed APC led Federal Government; the near-collapse of the APC as a viable political party, the readiness of the PDP to take over and offer qualitative leadership options to rescue the nation,” noting that life under the former ruling party was far better than today.

The communique added: “We lament the terrible pain and hardship facing Nigerians in virtually all aspects of life. The meeting noted that life was much better in 2015 under the PDP than today under the APC as exemplified in the following Comparative Indicators obtained mainly from the National Bureau of Statistics:

“Diesel which is critical for running of SMEs was N131.47 in 2015, it now costs above N700; fuel: Official and Black-Market was N87/155 in 2015, it now costs N167/350; Aviation Fuel/Air Ticket Rate on Domestic Flights was N110 per Litre/N18,000 in 2015, it now hovers around N700 per Litre/N70,000, where available. Indeed, the scarcity of fuel that has resulted in the loss of several man-hours is a disgrace to Nigeria.

“The collapse of the National Grid (126 times in 7 years – (June 2015 to March 2022) and its consequences for non-availability of power is most unfortunate.

“Kerosene (NHK) used by the ordinary Nigerian for cooking and power was N180 in 2015, it now sells at ₦450; Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) – 12.5kg Cylinder sold for N2,400 in 2015, is now sold at between N8,750 and N10, 000.

“Prices of basic foodstuffs are now three times higher than what they used to be in 2015. Staple foods such as rice, beans, cassava flakes are now slipping out of the hands of average Nigerians. Indeed, a Bag of Rice sold for N8500 in 2015 is now N39,000.

“Electricity was N14.23 per kilowatt in 2015, it is now N38.530, and not even available; the Unemployment rate was 11.4 per cent in 2015, it is now over 33 per cent, one the highest in the world; and the poverty rate in 2015 was 11.3 per cent but now about 42.8 per cent.

“Accumulated Inflation in 2015 was about 4 per cent, it is now 15.50 per cent; Inflation Rate was 9.01 per cent in 2015 and now 15.7 per cent.

“Perhaps the Exchange Rate has been one of the most disastrous. N150 to a dollar was the parallel market (patronised by most businessmen and Nigerians) rate in 2015, it is now about N580 to $1 in the parrel market and still rising.

“Debt and Debt Servicing: Domestic Debt of N8.4T and External Debt of USD 7.3b was incurred between 1999-2015.
While Domestic Debt of N7.63T (June 2015-Dec 2020) and USD28.57b as of Dec 2020 was incurred. External debt of USD21.27b was incurred between June 2015 and 2021.

“National Debt to GDP Ratio was 23.41 per cent(2016) it is now 36.88 per cent (2022).

“The Corruption Index has risen from 136 in 2015 to 150 now; Nigeria’s Misery Index, an indicator used in determining how economically well off the citizens of a country are, is usually calculated by adding the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate to the annual inflation rate, has moved from 14.75 per cent in 2015 to 50.48 (2021) and the major threat to the agricultural sector and food security in Nigeria is insecurity.

“In the northeast of Nigeria, it is estimated that no fewer than 70,000 hectares of arable farmland have been abandoned in the affected States and Local Government areas. The trend is the same all over the country. This further contributes to food inflation. The APC led Federal Government must take steps to cooperate with States to bring security down to the grassroots.”

The governors expressed surprise that in the face of the distressing statistics, the APC is still seeking to remain in power in 2023.

“The Forum is surprised that in the face of these statistics of complete failure in all ramifications and areas, the APC still wants to be on the ballot in 2023.

“This shows how uncaring and insensitive the APC is. It has become a menace to Nigeria,” the PDP governors had declared.