Below is the full text of a press conference addressed by PDP
national secretary, Oliseh Metuh today July 26th. PDP alleges that the
APC government has had no direction since they assumed power
Gentlemen
of the press, we have once again called you up to address a number of
very important issues constituting a threat to our democracy, the
general health of our nation and our welfare as citizens under the All
Progressives Congress (APC) administration.
Last
Thursday, our dear President, President Muhammadu Buhari returned from
his much-publicised visit to the United States of America.
A visit which
has proven to be anything but successful, yet another miscarried
cosmetic intervention to hide government’s inefficiency and inability to
face the real business of governance.
As
a responsible political party, committed to peace and the stability of
our dear nation, the PDP restrained itself from embarrassing the
President by not raising, while he was in the States, issues of
harassment of citizens, interferences in the activities of the National
Assembly and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), total
disregard for tenets of democracy, resort to sole administratorship as
well as other violations which have become the order of the day in
Nigeria since the inauguration of his administration.
Rather,
we remained calm, while hoping and praying that the visit would afford
our President and his party leaders reasonable tutorials on the respect
and application of the tenets of democracy and fundamental rights of
citizens under the rule of law.
This
is in addition to the fact that as patriotic citizens, we looked
forward for gains especially given our restated support for any action
or policy by the Federal Government aimed at stamping out corruption,
ending insurgency and promoting economic growth, which formed parts of
the publicised agenda for the visit.
However,
now that the visit has come and gone, our fear is that nothing
whatsoever has been learnt or gained. What we continue to receive as a
nation have been embarrassing disagreements, accusations and counter
accusations, blames and denials on very important issues due to lack of
tact and skill in the management of state matters by the APC-led
administration.
It
is disheartening that rather than secure any sort of tangible gain for
the fight against terrorism, which has lost steam under the APC watch,
with insurgents, who were pushed to the verge of surrender by the
Goodluck Jonathan administration, now surging back and spreading into
the country, we get nothing but exchanges and disagreements between the
Presidency and their American hosts. This is not only embarrassing but
also worrisome indication of crass ineptitude in the handling of
international affairs on the part of the present administration.
We
urge the APC-led administration to settle down, put its acts together
and get determined, without further excuse, to face the fight against
insurgency with every sense of seriousness especially given President
Buhari’s promise in his April 2, 2015 CNN interview to end the scourge
two months after his inauguration, which is by the end of this month.
Also,
while Nigerians awaited for reassuring words to promote our democracy
and unity as a nation, they were shocked as they watched President
Buhari unfold to the world his decision to administer the country on the
basis of the voting pattern in the last general elections rather than
on equity as stipulated by the constitution and his oaths of office as
the President of Nigeria.
President
Buhari told a stunned audience in the US that “constituencies that gave
me 97 percent cannot in all honesty be treated, on some issues, with
constituencies that gave me 5 percent”, signifying that his government
will be discriminatory.
Never
in the history of our nation has a president made such a divisive and
vindictive declaration. Never in the history of Nigeria has a President
made such tendentious, biased and partisan statement, a blade on the
chord of unity of his own country and people.
President
Buhari as a respected leader and the father of the nation whose “I
belong to everybody and I belong to nobody’ inaugural speech brought
great hope to Nigerians, must therefore note the enormous damage and
danger his recent partisan declaration brings to the polity.
We
demand that the President come clear on this matter. Would this form
the basis of government appointments rather than adherence to merit and
the principle of federal character as enshrined in the constitution?
Would this be a basis for termination of appointments, promotions and
key policies in the service circle?
Would
it form the basis for distribution of infrastructural development
projects and other essential interventions rather than the principle of
equity and equality of federating units as stipulated by the
constitution? Is this a deliberate policy by the APC or his personal
stance? Are we expecting the same discriminatory policy from APC state
governors?
May
we remind President Buhari that his declaration to run a discriminatory
government is in clear violation of his oath of office as President
wherein he publicly swore “that in all circumstances, I will do right to
all manner of people, according to law, without fear or favour,
affection or ill-will; …”
Our
fear however is that the President’s stance has further divided the
people along sectional and religious lines and may trigger a return of
quest for ethnic and sectional self-determination. The burden therefore
lies squarely on him to moderate the political ambiance in the nation
and do the needful in reassuring all sections of the nation of his
commitment to be fair and just, in keeping with the oaths and demands of
the highly respected office of the President of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.
Similarly,
the business community in Nigeria and indeed across the world noted
with utter dismay the disgraceful treatment meted out on some Nigerian
bankers and captains of industries by President Buhari during his US
visit.
Whereas
the President has the right to decide who makes his entourage on such
an important official visit, which visibly excluded National Assembly
leaders, economic experts and had no woman, the manner with which he
shamed and walked out Nigerians businessmen sends very wrong signal to
international investors and poses great threats to inflow of direct
foreign investment into our country. These Nigerian businessmen were
rejected by their President only for them to be valued by other
Presidents of African nations who led them into a meeting with President
Barrack Obama in their own countries on account of their investments in
those nations.
Whilst
we reserve our comments on the numerous blunders and gaffes in the
presentation of ideas, we note the embarrassment caused by the absence
of an economic team for healthy and informed discussion at the meeting
with officials of the US government.
Whereas
President Obama came to the meeting with a formidable team of experts
and key federal officials, our President had three APC governors with
questionable performance and who owe salaries and billion of naira in
debts, thereby robbing our nation the benefits and gains of the
discussions.
Furthermore,
since the President has insisted on running his government as a sole
administrator, making important decisions on national affairs without
recourse to relevant statutory arms and organs of government, we are
compelled to demand that this administration come out clear on its
expenses since assumption of office in May in keeping with its much
harped stance on transparency.
We
make this demand because since the APC took office, the nation’s
financial system in the absence of statutory functionaries has been
enmeshed in confusion, controversy and fertile atmosphere for financial
sleazes.
Recall
that when it assumed office, this administration raised the issue of
empty treasury only for the nation to learn few days later from the
Accountant General of the Federation that about $2.1 billion was left in
the Excess Crude Account (ECA). When the PDP demanded credit for the
ECA savings, the nation was suddenly made aware of huge sums from the
Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas dividends from which the APC-led Federal
Government announced financial bailout for states.
It
is interesting to note that whereas the Presidency has gone ahead to
unilaterally deplete the funds without recourse to appropriate statutory
arms of government, state governors are on air announcing that they
have not received any form of bailout whatsoever from the center,
raising serious questions on the handling of national resources.
This
is more so as we have information that the Presidency acting alone, has
gone into discussions with the World Bank for a loan of $2.1 billion
for purposes unknown to Nigerians. What is the loan for? What are the
terms and who are those working the papers? Who are the people to decide
on how the money will be spent? Is it true that the $2.1 billion loan
is meant to pay back huge contributions for the APC Presidential
campaign expenses? If truly this government is transparent, it should
come out clear on this loan as well as publicize details of its
expenditure in the last two months.
We
are worried that the ineptitude, avoidable inactivity, lack of policy
direction and absence of ministers to coordinate government affairs have
left the nation’s economy sour with continued slide in the naira which
has fallen from under N200 to the dollar in May to an all time low of
N240, in addition to the excruciating loss in the capital market which
has lost over N1.1 trillion in the last two months.
With
the recent display of insensitivity in deciding that ministers would be
appointed in September, a reneging on the earlier promise to unfold a
cabinet two weeks after inauguration, Nigerians should brace up for more
economic loses ahead, a development which spells doom for the gains
earlier achieved by the PDP administration in growing our economy to the
biggest in Africa and one of the fastest growing in the world.
Indeed,
Nigerians are no longer in doubt that they have been scammed with long
list of empty promises. This government has failed to articulate any
policy direction in any sector. What we see is a smart attempt at
cosmetic governance, loud propaganda and artful move to appropriate the
achievements made by the PDP-led administration; such as the effort in
ending polio, the improvement in power supply which is a dividend from
numerous investments by the previous administrations, the return of the
railways among others.
The
only achievements and change brought by the APC government are the
curbing of the fundamental human rights of citizens; engaging in
selective application of war against corruption, interfering in the
activities of the National Assembly and eroding the independence of
INEC. The order of the day has become the crass victimization and
harassment of officials of the immediate past administration.
The
recent organized public humiliation of the immediate-past First Lady
and wife of the former President, Dame Patience Jonathan at the Port
Harcourt airport where she was refused access to the protocol longue
based on ‘order from Abuja’ is a particular case in point. We stress
this case because when the immediate past President was in power, all
former Presidents and their spouses had unhindered access to the
protocol longue.
While
we note that this development has been widely condemned by Nigerians,
we ask if the former President erred in conceding defeat. Is the Federal
Government by any means encouraging a sit-tight attitude by government
officials?
Moreover,
we have been watching with keen interest the unfolding scenario in INEC
where the Presidency has been making every effort to rewrite the
constitution and the law with the singular aim to perpetuate Mrs. Amina
Zakari as Chairman in spite of her relationship and closeness to key APC
leaders. We are also aware of the position of the law and that Mrs.
Zakari’s tenure as a member of the commission elapsed on July 21, 2015.
We
restate that as long as Mrs. Zakari remains in the commission, it
should not be considered as independent and we will not accept any
attempt to manipulate the results of the forthcoming governorship
elections in Kogi and Bayelsa, which are known PDP strongholds.
Finally,
we state in clear terms that for the APC, it is a matter of so far, bad
change. So far, bad change that the government has failed to articulate
any clear policy direction with attendant avoidable confusion and
economic downturn; so far, bad change that our dear nation is gradually
sliding into a banana republic were the fundamental rights of the
citizens are being trampled upon and where security agencies have become
compromised instruments of oppression in the hands of the ruling party.
So
far, bad change that INEC has now lost its independence and the respect
it commanded among electoral stakeholders for fact of nepotism in
appointment of its Chairman; so far, bad change that the National
Assembly, the very citadel of our democracy has fallen under siege by a
government which seeks to appropriate its leadership and erode its
constitutional independence.
So
far, bad change that the government has reneged on many of its promises
to the people and now seeks to hoodwink them with lies, propaganda and
governance orchestrations. So far, bad change that the people now have
to live with the reality that the government had no intention of
providing monthly N5, 000 stipend, allowances to the discharged but
unemployed Youth Corps members, free meals for school children, 100
million jobs, additional 4 million new homes, and bringing the naira to
the same value with the dollar among other promises for which they were
voted for.
As
a responsible political party that has sustained democracy in the last
16 years, we are in good position to understand the growing frustration
and agitation among the people. However, we appreciate the sense of calm
by the citizens especially bearing in mind that this confusion called
the APC will end in the next four years.
Signed:
Chief Olisa Metuh
National Publicity Secretary
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