The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to stop borrowing and account for borrowed funds.
The party also advised the Federal Government to stop persecuting EndSARS protesters and not to mortgage the future of the youth, which the party noted, were angry about unemployment, insecurity and other challenges facing the nation.
The PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, gave the advise at the opening of the 90th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party in Abuja on Thursday.
He boasted that the PDP would not feel the exit of Ebonyi Governor, Dave Umahi, because the party remained stronger without him.
He said, “We have refused to join issues with him in any way but we cannot bow to any blackmail. What i can report to NEC is that the strength of our party in Ebonyi state and South East is intact and the NWC has taken necessary steps to protect and guard it. The real season that informed this decision will soon be exposed.
Speaking on the ‘state of the nation,’ Secondus said there were already problems facing the country before the COVID-19 lockdown but had become worse due to mishandling by the All Progressives Congress-led government.
“The security problem of the country has refused to abate, instead, it has multiplied with no clear solution in sight.
“President Muhammadu Buhari led APC Government, under whose watch the situation got worsened and complicated has remained clearly helpless and incapable of providing the needed leadership,” he said.
He added, “Our beloved country is in a very bad shape, the populace are groaning in pains and the government response to this is heaping further pains on them.
“This country is sliding into bankruptcy but the government is instead embarking in endless borrowing with no accountability on the already borrowed ones. Federal Government themselves just reported last week that 428 agencies would not be able to pay salaries this November because of underfunding.”
The PDP said the APC had done nothing to improve the lives of Nigerians since it came to power.
It said the resultant effects was the nationwide EndSARS protest by aggrieved youths.
“A number of times both in NEC and other platforms PDP have had cause to cry out that the APC administration was doing nothing to improve the lives of the people.
“That the youth unemployment situation in the country was growing at an alarming rate. We had also expressed deep concern at the growing human rights abuses in the system all due to the glaring indifference of the APC administration.
“The consequences of all these came to the fore when the youths, last month poured out their anger on the country through a nationwide protest. Even though the protest was triggered off by accumulated Police brutality, particularly by the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, it developed into a wider rebellion against injustice and poor leadership in the country.”
While accusing the government of poor handling of COVID-19 palliative, the opposition party said the October 20 night shooting of protesting youths at Lekki tollgate would have been averted if the government was responsive.
Secondus said, “Instead, it took President Muhammadu Buhari almost two weeks of persuasion and cajoling from many Nigerians including the Senate before he agreed to address the Nation on the issue after the damage was already done, youths killed by security agencies and property destroyed.
“The protest opened a fresh dimension in the government/ citizen relationship and underscores the fact that some fundamental actions are needed to get our polity going on the right track.”
“It must be emphasized that peaceful protest is a right in every democracy and guaranteed by the country’s constitution.”
The PDP challenged the federal government to address the fundamental issues raised by the youths rather than the counterproductive strategy of seeking to hound and intimidate perceived leaders of the peaceful protest by seizing their travel documents, freezing their accounts and arrests.
“NEC may therefore wish to join other voices in charging the APC federal Government to stop borrowing, stop mortgaging our future, account for borrowed funds, stop the persecution of #Endsars Youth Protesters, respect Nigeria youths, give youths a boice and say no to censoring of social media,” he said.
The PDP warned the government against censoring social media, saying it would hamper economic development.
He said, ‘We say no to the censoring of social media and the implication is very direct, while other economies are going digital, if you censor the social media in the country, all other advanced countries will stop dealing with Nigeria.
“As you know, you can stay in Nigeria and work with UK, work with Germany, work with India. Through the internet, IT, you can be paid and you can imagine the value chain when you are here in Nigeria, the local people will benefit and the value chain, you can’t account for it. That’s the intention of the federal government to introduce another ban on social media.
“They can be regulated like in every other country, but you know the APC country, they will turn it against the perceived enemies and so that is the fear of this young ones.”
Giving account of his stewardship, Secondus said the party had faired better under him by increasing the number of states in its fold from 11 to 16 based on his agenda to “reposition, rebuild and to regain”.
He added, “At the National Assembly, as an opposition we were able to attract into our fold the Senate President and 16 senators, the Speaker and more than 34 House of Representatives members ahead of the 2019 elections in addition to three seating state governors, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state, Dr Sam Ortom of Benue and Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara state. All these are as a result of our repositioning of the party that made it a huge brand. We restored integrity to our primaries.
“On the off season elections, we won the governorship in Bayelsa and Edo. The Party also prevailed in several bye-elections in Sokoto, Cross River, Taraba and Rivers states.”
The PDP national chairman said the party would work with the National Assembly members to ensure legislation that would provide for a free and fair election ahead of 2023 presidential election.
He assured that the party would do everything to ensure it returned to power in 2023 including party unity.
Secondus lamented that instead of tackling insecurity in the country, government officials and agencies had taken past times in lies and propaganda.
“What you get from government is multiple tariffs- Electricity, VAT, fuel hike and more, with its operatives indulging in lies and propaganda.”
He added, “The worrisome situation here is that Nigerians do not really know who is in charge in the country today. It appears that governance in our country today is in autopilot with agencies and operatives in a free world harassing and intimidating perceived enemies.
“Your Excellences, the situation generally is frightening and disheartening, but we must not despair because God is not finished with this country and with strong faith in him we shall prevail.”
The Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum (PDPGF) and Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, said the remaining 15 governors would work together to promote stability and unity in the party.
He said, “We are individually committed to good governance, providing leadership in our respective states, continue to make our party proud, to continue to make our electorate proud and we are repositioning our party for the future with the last drop of our blood.
“We remain committed party members and we shall continue to work with the National Working Committee, the BoT for our party to continue to grow in strength and wax stronger and stronger.
“We have been bonding together, we have been working together, if not for COVID-19, you could have seen our series of meetings but we have had several virtual meetings in the past especially during the period of lockdown.
“Very soon we are going to show our strength that we are still united in PDP.”
The Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, who spoke on behalf of National Assembly members said the voice of the opposition was actually in the Parliament.
“The attempt to gag each and every one of us by the government talking about the media, I can assure you that we shall fight with the last drop of our drop and that attempted legislation will not see the light of the day.
“We are also going to ensure that in the electoral act that we are tampering with now, we will be putting all the safeguards and ensure that our vote will always count.
“We also want to use this opportunity to appeal to the national party that as we work towards the 2023 elections, party discipline will be most important to us.
“Our members need to always be sure that they can depend on the national party for protection in and wherever they are.”
