By Ishaya Ibrahim (Acting News Editor)
President Muhammadu Buhari is to blame for the abduction of schoolgirls in Dapchi, Yobe State and several other atrocities committed by insurgents in the North, according to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The PDP, which Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) dislodged from power in 2015, accused Aso Rock of endangering lives by issuing false performance indices suggesting that insurgents have been completely routed.
A situation which made citizens to trust a lie and drop their guards in the face of real threats and danger, said PDP National Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan.
Without doubt, he added, if the “incompetent” APC government had not dished out lies to the people to score cheap political points for its 2019 re-election bid, more measures would have been adopted by the communities for their protection.
“While Nigerians are appalled by APC’s recourse to false indices in critical sectors, it is however, to say the least, an inexcusable height of wickedness to give a vulnerable people a false assurance of security when they are actually in danger,” he argued.
“The PDP decries as iniquitous, the efforts by APC-controlled federal authorities to suppress information on the abduction, leading to conflicting reports and frustrating of rescue mission, just because they seek to hide the failures of the presidency in ensuring the safety of Nigerians, particularly in the North.
“We were shocked that in their proclivity to deceive, the authorities earlier informed Nigerians that some of the girls have been recovered only for the news to turn out to be false.”
Ologbondiyan noted that while Buhari “has not uttered any word of assurance”, government’s visiting team headed by Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed, made a whistle stop at the Dapchi school without meeting the community leaders and parents of the abducted girls, and shut out the media.
“This only further confirms APC’s insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians.
“It is more irking that [Buhari] will publicly provide a day an asymmetry war will come to an end as if acts of insurgency are fought like a conventional warfare.
“It is painful that Nigerians are faced today with a government that has been heavy on propaganda and issuing of false statistics, while playing down on several atrocities committed against defenseless citizens.”
Ologbondiyan said under the PDP, which ruled for 16 years from 1999 to 2015, “Nigerians were never told lies on the true situation of the state of affairs in all sectors, particularly security.
“The PDP-led government constantly briefed Nigerians and carried all stakeholders along in our concerted effort in securing lives and property in our nation.
“Nigerians and indeed the world must hold the Buhari Presidency and the APC-led federal government directly responsible for the abduction of these defenseless schoolgirls as well as the killings in our country today.
“While the PDP stands with the parents of the abducted girls at this moment of their harrowing pains and prays for their speedy return, we implore our security forces to insulate themselves from APC propaganda, take very decisive professional steps to recover our girls and end the killings in our country.”
