The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has warned that the nation is falling apart under President Muhammadu Buhari and his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The main opposition party said it arrived at this conclusion following a crucial meeting on Wednesday which reviewed the developments.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday by Kola Ologbondiyan, its National Publicity Secretary, the party maintained said it is deeply worried that the nation, “which was a prosperity hub and a reference point for democracy, personal freedom and good governance, now has all the trappings of a failed state with government, under President Buhari, being unable to guarantee any of its fundamental duties to the extent that citizens are now desperate to take their destinies in their hands.”
The statement noted that the red flag has become urgent following “the manifest total loss of faith by Nigerians, across the board, in the ability of the Buhari Presidency to provide a democratic leadership that can engender a peaceful and secure nation.”
The PDP added: “It is clear that the APC and the Buhari Presidency have held Nigerians hostage. Nigerians are now being treated like a conquered people. They can no longer freely exercise their constitutionally guaranteed rights; Executive high-handedness has become a state policy just as the APC Government, burdened by challenges of illegitimacy, has lost direction and only thriving in vindictiveness.”
The PDP noted that due to “the prevailing anti-democratic proclivities of the Buhari Presidency, our once cohesive and economically thriving nation has come under distress on all fronts; never in the history of our nation has our fault lines become so visible; uncertainty now envelopes our nation; citizens are nervous and agitated as ominous hopelessness sets in.”
It further said: “Our party has also noticed that since the defence of the APC and President Buhari collapsed at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, the APC and its government have taken to harassment and repression of Nigerians by surreptitiously suspending constitutional provisions of freedom of speech and association in our country.
“Many compatriots are being taken in as political prisoners all in a bid to foist a siege mentality and suppress public opinion.
“Today, the Buhari Presidency cannot guarantee the security and safety of citizens. Bloodletting and violence have become the order of the day. Invaders, insurgents, kidnappers and killers have taken over major highways and communities; our nation’s security machinery has become overstretched; Nigerians now live in palpable fear; they cannot freely travel within their country and the government has no answers.
“On the economic front, President Buhari has ruined our economy and led our nation to become the world’s capital of poverty, while condoning the humongous corruption that has become the hallmark of his failed administration.
“Sadly, President Buhari’s anti-development policies, the corruption in his government as well as its failure to provide security have scared away foreign investors from our nation.
“Only recently, the United Nations declared that 43 per cent of our nation’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has taken a flight to other countries. Unemployment has gone out of proportion and there is no hope in sight.
“Our worry is that the prevailing situation of hopelessness under President Buhari and the APC is threatening our national cohesion and corporate existence as a nation.”
The PDP, therefore, called on all Nigerians of good faith as well as the international community to come to the rescue by speaking out against the prevailing situation in Nigeria before it is too late.
The PDP urged Nigerians “not to despair but to keep hope alive in their confidence towards the retrieval of Atiku Abubakar’s stolen presidential mandate at the tribunal.”