Three months after President Bola Tinubu’s inauguration, the Peoples Democratic Party claims that no fewer than 150 million Nigerians are having trouble paying for their daily essential meals.
As the country was on the brink of collapse, the biggest opposition party claimed, it was because the administration “lacks the acceptance and followership of citizens; a circumstance that has generated an atmosphere and feeling of absence of governance in the country.”
In a news release issued on Monday and signed by the party’s national publicity secretary, Mr. Debo Ologunagba, the party made this claim.
The statement said, in part, “It is horrific that over 150 million Nigerians have been unable to purchase their regular meals for the past two months, with families now going to night on an empty stomach.
“The administration’s lack of creativity, tact, and sensitivity towards the welfare of Nigerians in the withdrawal of subsidy and floating of the naira exacerbated intolerably high cost of living, crippled our national productivity, collapsed millions of enterprises, and sparked huge job loss,” the administration said.
A severe lack of investor confidence has developed as a result of foreign corporations departing Nigeria and leaving millions of Nigerians jobless. This has a crushing impact on small and medium-sized businesses, which are the true engines of our country’s economy.
The statement claims that the Federal Government’s palliatives, which were intended to help reduce poverty in the states, have not done much to lessen the impact of the suffering on the country.
The federal government was further criticized for not doing more to ensure “the protection of lives of our citizens, despite the slaughter of over 500 Nigerians in Plateau, Benue, Niger, Kaduna and other states of the federation, with many more being kidnapped since May 29, 2023.”
“The APC government’s refusal to take prompt action in the wake of the kidnapping of eight corps members who were en route to Sokoto State for their one-year mandatory national service is yet another obscene example of the APC government’s insensitivity to the security, safety, and wellbeing of residents.
More troubling is the recent downing of a Nigerian military plane, which resulted in the deaths of our brave and valiant military members, without a concomitant reassuring word from the APC leadership.
“Life expectancy in Nigeria has drastically decreased under the APC at the moment. Because they constantly worry about being slain or kidnapped, citizens and residents are unable to travel freely across the nation.
The APC government is desperately trying to drag Nigeria into a war with Niger Republic that is unnecessary and poses no threat to our national interests, instead of defending Nigerians.
If not quickly addressed, the broad sense of hopelessness, fear, distress, and detachment in the nation could escalate into a catastrophic crisis, according to our party.
In response, Bala Ibrahim, the APC’s director of publicity, said that it was regrettable that the PDP was displaying signs of weariness and guilt.
The PDP, he claimed, is making itself out to be the guilty party. It is merely an admission of all the flaws and shortcomings that led to the current situation that Nigerians are in. The APC-led government of President Bola Tinubu is making every effort to give Nigerians a Renewed Hope.
“The PDP failed to confront the problem head-on. If the list of those receiving fuel subsidies is made public, you can be sure that most of the people on it would be PDP members who have wasted the nation’s resources and lack the shame to admit to Nigerians that “we indulged in squander-mania for the entire period we ran the country.”
The APC government is currently working to implement reforms and initiatives in an effort to restore reason and optimism. The PDP has however started engaging in similar stunts in an effort to perplex or deter Nigerians from the directional leadership the APC government is bringing because they are aware that in the end, people will reap what they sow and they will be condemned. Nothing else is available.
The PDP administration was blamed by the APC publicity director for the nation’s iconic “Chibok children” abduction and other arbitrary kidnapping incidents. He also criticized the opposition party for attempting to use the current abduction of some corps members for political purposes.
It is the reason, according to Ibrahim, that most Nigerians resolved not to reinstate the PDP to power.
Even if it was done piecemeal under the leadership of the APC, for a party whose watch or leadership the Chibok girls were taken and held captive for an eternity before they were freed, to be talking about some corps members being kidnapped is disgraceful. They ought to feel humiliated and examine their consciences.
“Nigerians have pushed them to the sidelines, and they won’t ever again support the PDP. Atiku will attack Asiwaju today, Shettima will do the same tomorrow, and the following day it will search for anyone. Having failed in his attempt to demand Tinubu’s academic credentials and persuade Nigerians to believe that he is a felon, I can predict with absolute certainty that the next thing he would probably claim is that the president is not a Nigerian. I’m not sure where he might look to pursue that lawsuit, he said.
