PDP Blsts APC Over Anti-corrruption war

Press Statement

PDP Insists APC Lacks Capacity To Create And Manage Wealth
…Says Sleazes Going On Under Buhari’s Watch

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says it has noted the deliberate
resort to diversionary blackmail and overused excuses by President
Muhammadu Buhari-led APC government to shy away from providing answers
to the salient issue of unprecedented damage it has done to the nation’s
economy in its 90 days in office.

The party said that rather than hide their heads in shame for poor
performance in the last 90 days that has resulted in the sudden economic
retrogression, the worst ever experienced by the nation, the APC and
Presidency continue to grope and look for excuses.

PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement on
Sunday, said discerning minds were appalled that instead of providing
answers to issues of economic retrogression, the Presidency and the APC
have resorted to wild allegations and insults to attempt to cover their
ineptitude and divert attention from their list of bogus promises which
they have no intention to fulfill.

“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 have 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 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.

Signed:

Chief Olisa Metuh
National Publicity Secretary