After a careful evaluation of
the first 30 days of President Muhammadu Buhari and All Progressives Congress
(APC)'s administration, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) notes that it has
become obvious that Nigerians need to join hands in prayers to save the
government from further inaction and dithering. The party said the call for
prayers has become necessary given the fact that the administration is finding
it difficult to locate its bearing and even take off and face the challenges of
governance at the center resulting in 30 days of all motion and no movement, a
scenario that does not augur well for the polity
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa
Metuh in a statement on Sunday said that the enormity of the confusion
surrounding the government and party in the last one month makes it imperative
for Nigerians to join hands in prayers as the success or failure of the Buhari
administration will not only affect the President and his party but also the
entire nation.
“We urge Nigerians to join
hands in prayers and offer useful suggestions to President Muhammadu Buhari and
the APC because with what we have seen in the last 30 days, the present
administration is finding it very difficult to get its bearings right while
showing no inclination towards implementing its numerous campaign promises for which
they were voted into office at the center.
“We are deeply worried that the
President who promised to unveil his cabinet two weeks after his inauguration,
has not been able to decide on key appointments such as ministers, Secretary to
the Government of the Federation (SGF), a Chief of Staff and advisers in key
sectors of the economy. “This is more so as the delay has brought government
business in ministries, departments and agencies to a dangerous standstill with
coordination of important policies vested on ministers and the SGF now in
tatters while the system drifts.
This situation also creates
loopholes through which overzealous persons around that President can connive
with unscrupulous elements in the bureaucracy to syphon public resources in addition
to possibly misleading the President to violate due process by spending beyond
and outside his statutory limits. “The situation is taking its toll on the
economy sector, which has in the 30 days witnessed unprecedented decline with a
terrifying crippling of foreign and domestic investments including activities
in the money and capital market sectors. Under President Buhari, the stock
market has lost over N238 billion while the All-Share Index fell by 849.87
basis points as at June 19.
“In security, apart from the
directive to relocate the counter terrorism command center to Borno state and
seeking assistance from foreigners, no other concrete step has been taken in
the fight against insurgency which the President in his April 22, 2015 CNN
interview promised to end within his two months in office. “Instead, the
anti-terrorism effort has completely lost steam in the last 30 days, with
insurgents, who had already been pushed to the verge of surrender in the
Sambisa forest by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, now surging back and
spreading into the country.
“In this regard, we urge the
President to confront insurgency and issues of national security with all the
vigour they deserve while calling for restrain from actions capable of
destroying the fabrics of security intelligence. We also urge for adequate
respect for all organs of internal security such as the Directorate of State
Security (DSS), which is answerable to the Nigerian state and as such should
not be publicly ridiculed by an aide of the President.
“In the same vein, we
are disturbed by the ominous signals emanating from the atrocious attempt by
the APC to undermine and appropriate the federal legislature resulting in the
disruption of lawful proceedings and forced closure of the National Assembly,
the symbol of our collective national identity as a democratic state.
In this direction, we urge the
Presidency and the APC to imbibe democratic tenets and respect the independence
of that arm of government. “Finally, while we remind the President and the APC
that their campaign promises are bonds which must be fulfilled, we urge him to
use the next ten days to set up his government by naming his ministers, the SGF
and advisers in critical sectors as Nigerians did not vote for a sole
administrator but for a democratic government”.
Signed: Chief Olisa Metuh
National Publicity Secretary
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