PDP urges Nigerians to Pray for President Buhari.

After a careful evaluation of the first 30 days of President Muhammadu Buhari
and the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration, the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday said it had 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 had become necessary given the fact that
the administration was finding it difficult to locate its bearing and even take off
and face the challenges of governance at the centre, resulting in 30 days of all
motion and no movement, a scenario that does not augur well for the polity.
PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, in a statement in Abuja said
the enormity of the confusion surrounding the government and party in the last
one month had made it imperative for Nigerians to pray as the success or
failure of the Buhari administration would 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
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 centre.

“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 (MDAs) 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, which has in the last 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 countre 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.

“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 10
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.”

However, the presidency has fired back at the spokesman of the PDP.
In its response, however, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and
Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said the PDP should be blamed for the country’s
situation, adding that it was the mess created by the immediate past
administration that the Buhari is trying to clear.

“It is amusing to read what the National Publicity Secretary of the defeated
PDP, Metuh, considers a 30 days appraisal of the Buhari administration.
“He wants Nigerians to join hands in prayers for the government, so that things
would begin to move.

“What he does not know is that Nigerians had long formed such coalition. They
are hands in hands, and that was what gave victory to President Buhari in the
March 28, 2015 poll.

“They had teamed up to uproot an administration that had brought the country
to her knees, and was about to tip her off the precipice. And Nigerians have
resolved that never would they allow any government to divide them along
regional, religious and ethnic fault lines again.

“The Buhari administration is naturally contemplative because there was
absolutely no rhyme or reason to the way PDP ran the country, particularly in
the immediate past dispensation.

That is why the Augean Stable is being cleaned
now, and it requires scrupulous and painstaking planning. Across all sectors,
our national life was devalued, and it takes meticulousness and sure-footedness
to repair all the breaches. This, the Buhari administration will deliver,” Adesina
said.

On alleged corruption, Adesina noted that it was the regular pastime of the
immediate past administration details of which will be unveiled in the coming
days.

“Metuh talks of people round the president conniving with bureaucrats to
syphon money from the treasury. This must be deja vu, as it was the pastime
of the immediate past administration, and the enormity of the sleaze will be
evident when stolen money, to the tune of billions of dollars, is recovered, and
returned to the national treasury soon.

After all that is being planned by the current administration has matured, and
bearing fruits, Nigerians will be able to determine who is serving them
acceptably, and who has taken them for a ride. It is just a matter of time.
“Meanwhile, Metuh and his masters can only rue the missed opportunities to
make salutary impact on the lives of Nigerians. They have a long road of regrets
to travel,” Adesina added.

 source:Thisdaylive