“We ask, if Mr. President is, indeed, a man of integrity, as his handlers want the world to believe, why is he comfortable employing, embracing, surrounding himself with and offering protection to corrupt persons, certificate forgers and liars as ministers, advisers and political associates?..PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has challenged President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to a debate on good governance. The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, yesterday, said after a thorough review of the President Buhari led APC administration, it is obvious that the government has failed in every sector of the nation’s economy.
The PDP said: ”Instead of fighting corruption, this administration is practically a felonious empire of corrupt individuals, certificate forgers, contract inflators, looters of treasuries and well-known liars, making it, ‘head to toe’, the biggest assemblage of plunderers in the history of our nation.
“We ask, if Mr. President is, indeed, a man of integrity, as his handlers want the world to believe, why is he comfortable employing, embracing, surrounding himself with and offering protection to corrupt persons, certificate forgers and liars as ministers, advisers and political associates?
“Are there things Mr. President benefits or has in common with such individuals that attract them to him, or for which they enjoy his cover to steal public funds in parastatals, agencies and ministries, particularly those under the direct supervision of the president?
“Largely, due to the incompetence and corruption of the Buhari presidency, our once robust economy has been wrecked, resulting in unbearable hardship, unemployment, hunger and starvation, strange sicknesses and untold depression with compatriots resorting to suicide missions and slavery as options.”
The opposition party added that under the present administration, the country has become “dangerously” divided, while “violent clashes and bloodletting has become the order of the day. Rights of citizens are daily violated; democratic institutions, including the courts and the National Assembly have come under attack; elections are rigged with impunity and the unity of our beloved country is now under stress.
“Moreover, the Buhari administration cannot boast of any major development project it has initiated, executed and completed in the last three years, in any part of the country. If anything, Mr. President has been going around the country shopping for projects executed by other persons, including PDP governors, to commission.
“The PDP is ready to commence a series to expose the lies and failures of this administration as well as the huge liability, woes and dangers it has brought on our nation.”
Meanwhile, there are strong indications that PDP may alter the timetable for the conduct of its primaries for the 2019 general election, as the party is yet to commence the sale of nomination forms to aspirants, three weeks after the scheduled date for commencement.
Daily Sun reliably gathered, at the weekend, that the PDP does not want to hold its primaries before APC.
A party source told Daily Sun that this is partly responsible for the delay in the commencement of sale of nomination forms to aspirants, seeking to contest for various positions in the 2019 general elections on the platform of the opposition party.
The Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) timetable for the 2019 general elections indicates that political parties must hold their primaries between August 17 and October 7.
The PDP National Executive Committee (NEC), at its meeting last month, had approved a timetable for the conduct of party primaries for next year’s general election.
According to timetable, the sale of form to aspirants for various positions and ad-hoc delegates would last from August 4- August 21, while the screening of aspirants is scheduled to begin today, with aspirants for state houses of assembly, and on August 30, with governorship and presidential aspirants.
The timetable also provides that the party primaries will hold as follows: state houses of assembly, September 15; House of Representatives, September 19; senatorial, September 25: governorship, September 28 and presidential primary, October 5-6.
However, the source said the timetable is not sacrosanct, noting that “we can also review and take advantage of the conduct of the APC primaries.”
