By Emma Ogbuehi
The President, Muhammadu Buhari, has taken a look at the recent communique by the Governors Forum of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), describing it as lacking in articulation and a spectacular demonstration to the people of Nigeria as to why the party and its representatives should not be entrusted with national leadership of the country any time soon.
PDP Governors’ Forum had in their meeting, taken on the federal government and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) over some of the actions of the Buhari administration lately. But in a statement by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant on Media, the President argued that some of the observations by the PDP governors were baseless. For instance, Buhari argued that in bemoaning the decision by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) not to make contributions to the Federation Account, the governors appeared to believe NNPC can spend the same money twice: once on the petroleum subsidy – which they all support – and then on their States via the Federation Account.
He accused the PDP governors of expecting the NNPC to waste the money coming to it, arguing that that NNPC is a trustee for the nation – and this means it must manage its finances with prudence and for the long-term to safeguard the financial support it bestows on the country.
The President also faulted the call by the PDP governors on the Central Bank to appreciate the value of the Naira, saying it smacked of profligacy and contradiction. “This would damage exports – including oil revenues on which NNPC depends – as well as damage small businesses and employment. But an appreciated currency would benefit those spending on luxuries from abroad – this, no doubt, being the leading desire of a typical PDP governor”, the statement alleged.
It challenged the claim by the governors that denying them adequate flow of money is an affront to democracy, constitutionalism, and federalism, accusing them of working against the integrity of Nigeria by their refusal to support the Federal Government’s earnest desire to reinstate the local government as the third tier and finding a lasting solution to farmer-herder conflicts costing the nation lives and livestock.
Buhari also took swipe at the governors’ appeal to each other for more involvement of States in mining and geophysical activities within their States, asking why it is taking the PDP all this while to realize that such opportunities exist.
It scoffed at the PDP Governors’ condemnation of the Federal Government’s action over Twitter, stressing that it represents the curtailment of their ability to use the platform to spread fake news and invented stories to the detriment of community and good-neighbourliness between the peoples of Nigeria.
“The PDP Governors propose no solutions to any of our nation’s challenges in the face of COVID and global economic downturn: instead, they grasp for more money and mourn their lack of access to social media to spread falsehoods and hate. Their statement is evidence, if any were needed, as to why the President and the APC ended the PDP’s one-party rule in 2015, were re-elected by an increased margin in 2019, and why their winning trend is set to continue far into the future”, Buhari insisted.
