The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) for resorting to diversionary blackmail and over-flogged excuses in order to shy away from tackling issues regarding the dwindling state of the country’s economy.
Speaking via a statement issued on Sunday, August 30, 2015 by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisah Metuh, the PDP said that the APC and President Buhari ought to hide their heads in shame as a result of the sudden retrogression that has befallen the country’s economy and not grope around looking for excuses.
Metuh said: “The PDP has severally expressed its support for a holistic fight against corruption and we have challenged the Federal Government to investigate and prosecute all corrupt persons irrespective of ethnic and political affiliations. We are therefore appalled that instead of getting serious with the challenges of governance, the APC is bent on inventing excuse for its crass incompetence to create and manage wealth, to the detriment of the nation.
“We challenge the APC and the Presidency to be honest enough to respond to issues instead of resorting to propaganda. Is the so-called mess clearing an answer for the adamant stance of the APC and President Buhari in running a government without a cabinet and precise fiscal policy direction, a strange totalitarian approach that has taken serious toll on the economy and the polity in general?
“Is it an answer to the resort to constitutional violations, abuse of financial regulations, halting of development projects and the pervading uncertainty that resulted in the retarding of domestic and foreign direct investments with attendant avoidable losses to Nigerians?
“What has the APC and the Presidency to say to the official report by the National Bureau of Statistics that while they are busy celebrating imaginary achievements, the economy is running aground with real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) plunging with about 2.35%, with job creation dropping by 69 percent under their watch?
“Are we not already experiencing the consequences of abuse of rules such as the foisting of foreign exchange transaction restrictions in violation of the Foreign Exchange Monitoring And Miscellaneous Provisions Act, otherwise known as Decree No. 17 of 1995?
“What is the APC-led government’s answer to the report by Fitch Rating, which alerted that Nigerian banks and other businesses in the sector are now at risk following the economic slowdown occasioned by the incompetence of the President Buhari-led APC government?
“Why have the government and the APC refused to provide answers to the recent depleting of funds inherited from the previous administration without recourse to appropriate statutory arms of government, while no corresponding improvement has been witnessed in the economy?
“We challenge this administration to present to Nigerians a score card of investments it has made in any critical sector of the economy in the last 90 days. What investment has the Buhari administration made in power, health, education, the railway or petroleum sectors in the last 90 days, to warrant its posturing on achievements?
“Is the APC not artfully seeking to appropriate the achievements made by the PDP-led administration; such as the effort in ending polio, the improvement in power supply, the reopening of the refineries, among others which are dividends from numerous investments by the previous administrations?
“While we expect the present administration to be serious about the fight against corruption by ensuring that all corrupt persons are brought to book, especially those who, as major beneficiaries of corruption and sleazes associated with themselves and their allies, believe they now are now safe, as members of the APC.
In the same vein, we restate our caution against the current drama of politicizing the issue of corruption in the country, while turning blind eyes to reports of sleazes going on unchecked in government quarters under the current administration.
