By Daniel Kanu
Nigeria’s leading opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Tuesday said the outcome of President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Taraba State had vindicated its position that the scheduled trips to states where Nigerians were being killed by marauders was cosmetic and a political afterthought that did not come from the heart.
The PDP also expressed disbelief at the President’s dismissal of public
criticism over his delay in visiting the troubled areas as expecting him
“to always go out to the field to make noise.”
The party said Nigerians were also distressed by President Buhari’s
morbid comparison of more people being killed in one state than the
other, as if one life is not as important as hundred others, adding that
such a disposition has further exposed the value the All Progressives
Congress (APC)-controlled administration attaches to the lives of
Nigerians.
PDP said that “Nigerians wondered why President Buhari did not put figures to the tally
since what appears to be of interest is the morbid comparison of how
many Nigerians were killed from state to state.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement on
Tuesday, said the party was however not surprised by President Buhari’s
comments as well as the failure to visit the victims to directly assure
them as the APC-controlled Federal Government had always exhibited
thoughtless disdain towards the feelings and well being of the masses.
“When well-meaning Nigerians said the visits were cosmetic and a
political gambit, some apologists of the APC dismissed it as a mere
political statement. Now, the action and comments by the President
during his whistle stop visit to Taraba state have bared it all.
“Not only that our dear President holed himself in the comfort of the
Taraba State Government House for a brief meeting with few government
officials, he did not visit the victims to directly commiserate and
allay their fears with assurances of steps to ensure justice and end the
carnage, as his allusions almost re-opened old wounds.
“Is it not surprising that the same president who, last Saturday, had all
the time at a wedding ceremony in Kano State did not even spare a minute
to visit victims of a carnage where a soothing word from him would have
been the balm for justice and peace?
“Furthermore, the President’s declaration that Nigerians should not expect
him to “always go out to the field” not only negates his promise to lead
from the front, but also shows that he has become distant from the real
feelings, demands and sensibilities of the people.
“Also, Nigerians were shocked by the President’s claims of having
performed in providing security in the country, even in the face of the
daily bloodletting in the land. Perhaps, he was not aware, as usual,
that while he was in Taraba, marauders were having a field day
slaughtering women and children in neighboring Benue state.
“It is clear to all that this Presidential roadshow serves no purpose to
the people, but merely designed as a gambit to score cheap political
point and falsely portray the administration as caring, particularly
seeing that the 2019 election is around the corner.
“This is indeed the highest insult to the sensibility of Nigerians and a
spat on the graves of the dead.
“We therefore charge Mr. President’s handlers to end the charade, which
is bringing more pubic opprobrium to the President, as no amount of
gimmick will reverse the resolve by Nigerians to end the APC anti-people
rule come 2019.”