The Presidency on Sunday in Abuja faulted the Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum for criticising the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and declaring it unworthy of participating in the 2023 general elections.
It accused the governors of lacking sincerity in their criticism, saying they are only after power-sharing.
The Muhammadu Buhari Presidency’s position was contained in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.
The PDP governors had recently said it is “impossible for a party so disorganised to offer good governance to the people of Nigeria”.
It had, therefore, advised Nigerians to reject the APC should it choose to be part of the 2023 elections.
However, the Presidency in the statement titled ‘Issues from the PDP fantasy communiqué from Umuahia,’ said the PDP during its 16-year rule in Nigeria, squandered the nation’s resources with reckless abandon.
It accused the opposition party of trying to “cover up the serial and criminal failures of its long and damaging period in office, which the Muhammadu Buhari regime and the All Progressives Congress have strived these past seven years to repair.”
It said, “We cannot forget under the PDP, the nation had an army full of phantom soldiers whose pay went to PDP politicians’ pockets while our under-resourced real soldiers died in the fight against terrorist insurgents and our international allies refused to supply Nigeria kit and military aid.
“We cannot ignore how the 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.
“We will always remember how the 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.”
The Presidency claimed it has done better than the PDP in the fight against insurgency by providing soldiers with better equipment to fight Boko Haram terrorists and others.
It also claimed it has handled the farmers/herders’ clashes better than the PDP administration did, saying, “Today with the 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.
“Today with the 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.”
It added that “in the last year of the PDP misrule, $20bn was simply found ‘missing,’” an allegation that has not been proven.
It criticised the governors who signed the communiqué, saying “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. Check the facts and leave the politics: What does the country get with this kind of gimmick?”
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SaharaReporters, New York
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