2019: Buhari’s second term’ll further divide Nigeria –PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said Nigerians will be further divided and impoverished if President Muhammadu Buhari is reelected for a second term in the 2019 presidential poll.
The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, yesterday, alleged that all President Buhari has to show for his first tenure are anti-people policies and failure to work for the country’s common good.
The party said this in response to comments by the president, at the weekend, that his second term would be to the benefit of Nigerians. The opposition party said Nigerians are aware that the “harsh and reckless policies of Buhari’sadministration are responsible for the economic hardship, ethnic tension and killings plaguing the country.”
The PDP further described President Buhari’s bid for a second term as “a quest to continue to promote nepotism, enrich a cabal in the Presidency and protect his cronies and corrupt members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from prosecution.
“If, indeed, the president was out to serve, as he claimed at the APC congress, we challenge him to show any of his 2015 campaign promises he has fulfilled, or any development project initiated and implemented to the benefit of the people in the last three years.
“President Buhari’s second term is also a quest to continue to ignore and destroy democratic principles; to continue trampling on the rights of citizens and persecution of opposition and perceived political opponents; to continue the derailing of democracy with manifest disdain for constitutional order; to continue with the intimidation and harassment of the legislature and the judiciary; perpetuation of mediocrity in governance; de-marketing Nigeria at international fora and to blame everyone else, but himself, for manifest incapacity to govern.
“Nigerians do not need clairvoyants and psychics to know that another term for the president will lead to decimation of the middle class, over-taxation of the poor, the complete erosion of freedom and secret fight against free enterprise.
“It will surely lead to the complete destruction of our economy, our democracy and, most importantly, the unity of our nation,” the PDP said.
Meanwhile, the PDP has said propaganda and false accusation against it will not save APC from defeat in the 2019 general elections.
The PDP said this in reaction to comments credited to the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, against the opposition party, during the APC’s ward congress in Lagos, at the weekend. The vice president had said “the difference between us and any other government is that we will not steal the money.”
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, yesterday, the PDP said Nigerians are disappointed that Osinbajo has allowed himself to be used to divert attention from the failures of the federal government.
It noted that all assertions by the vice president, particularly, on the performance of President Buhari, and allegations against the opposition, have remained unsubstantiated. This is the second time, the opposition party would be tackling Osinbajo, over “unsubstantiated” claims against the immediate past administration, in the past few days. The PDP had, last week, challenged the vice president to name those he claimed stole $3 billion during the tenure of former president, Goodluck Jonathan.
The party said: ”As a professor of law, and an occupant of the exalted seat of the vice president of our country, Prof. Osinbajo should know better than allowing himself to be used to bandy figures and make unguarded statements at public events, such as his comments at the APC ward congress in Lagos, where he described everyone else as ‘thieves’.
“We note that Vice President Osinbajo has refused to heed wise counsel and accord respect to his office, by desisting from such unguarded comments, only because he has been sucked in and entangled in the propaganda, deception, impunity and sleazes that not only brought their administration to power, but have become its trademarks in the last three years.
“He should also note that propaganda and, particularly, false accusations are not only abhorred by the Holy Books, but will also not deliver the APC and its incompetent administration from the resolve of Nigerians to kick them out, come 2019.”
-Sun