From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Presidency has reacted to governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) verdict on the performance of President Muhammadu Buhari that as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, he is to be blamed for the revenue leakages in the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
It described the PDP governors, who met in Aba, Abia State, as ‘the delusional’ who sought to cover up the serial and criminal failures of the PDP’s long and damaging period in office, which the Buhari administration and All Progressives Congress (APC) have strived these past seven years to repair.
The governors reached the conclusion at the end of a recent PDP-Governors’ Forum meeting in Aba, Abia State.
In a statement entitled: “Issues from the PDP fantasy communique from Umuahai,” by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the Presidency described the forum’s communique as a “a work of fiction by those who truly believe black is white and one plus one equals three.”
The presidency alleged that under the PDP, the nation had an army full of phantom soldiers whose pay, it alleged went to PDP politicians’ pockets while the nation’s soldiers were under-resourced and died in the fight against terrorist insurgents as it noted that international allies refused to supply Nigeria kits and military aid.
“Today, with the APC, the army is resourced, we have fighter jets from our partners, Boko Haram is being driven from every inch of Nigerian territory, and ISWAP’s leader eliminated in a Nigerian airstrike.
“We cannot ignore how PDP politicians sought – and continue to seek – to inflame ethnic and religious tensions by refusing to even proffer a solution to the herder-farmer clashes which became most prevalent under their misrule.
“Today, with APC in government, there are ranches on federal land and in state land where there is the willingness to establish them. Clashes are reduced. Lives are saved, and livelihoods are enriched.
“We will always remember how PDP politicians intentionally encouraged and exploited the black market in currency exchange to convert ill-gotten gains to foreign currency and undermine our national currency, then spirited their funds abroad in their billions and into foreign bank accounts.
“Today, with APC, we support our national currency; we have achieved self-sufficiency in rice and fertilizer production; we refuse to allow greedy politicians and businessmen to hide their money overseas, and instead build an economy here in Nigeria for all.
“We will always know how PDP politicians raided the NNPC, consistently failed to pay into the Federation Account and, in the last year of PDP misrule, $20 billion dollars was simply found ‘missing’.
“Today, with APC, funds from NNPC are directly and transparently used to fund social and health programmes – such as COVID-19 response, the construction of roads, bridges and rail, and equipping of hospitals to cope with new and existing challenges.
“And then, there are those PDP leaders in attendance who signed the communique. Who would trust such people with the running of our country?
“Who can believe a word these people say, as they looked outwardly stylish but harrowed by power-sharing and other troubles inwardly? These people, who play politics of division and hate, create communal disturbances, need to change.”