The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to use the benefit of his state visit to Ghana to draw lessons from his Ghanaian counterpart, President Nana Akufo-Addo on how to run a peaceful, united and economically vibrant nation.
Buhari on Tuesday visited Accra, Ghana to attend the country’s 61st Independence Anniversary celebrations.
PDP also criticised the President for offering to assist Ghana in her war against corruption, when his own administration allegedly “reeks heavily with corruption as evinced by the Transparency International report which exposed the fact that corruption has worsened in Nigeria under your watch.”
The party, in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja on Wednesday, said the President and his handlers should have been embarrassed that while the President of Ghana paraded credentials of a robust economy and a peaceful nation, Nigeria, under the Buhari Presidency was plagued with economic recession and an upsurge of violence and daily bloodletting.
He said, “When President Buhari was reeling out President Akufo-Addo achievements in his one year in office; his ingenious approach to job creation; the farming-for-job initiative, the senior high school free education, one district-one factory project and one village-one dam initiative among others.
“We hope our dear President reflected on the fact that back home, his inept government had instead, wrecked our once robust economy, the reason he had nothing to present to the world at the ceremony.
“We hope President Buhari recollected that unlike his Ghanaian counterpart, his administration had nothing to show in its first year in office.
“Our President recalls that under his own watch, over eight million Nigerians have lost their jobs, 16 million remained unemployed, 18 million more are underemployed while another 27.44 million refused to work for various reasons related to frustrations occasioned by the negative policies of his government.”
In the same vein, Ologbondiyan said that he hoped that President Buhari noted that unlike his Ghanian counterpart, who initiated development projects and opened factories, in Nigeria under his watch, many factories had shut down and infrastructures collapsing.
He also alleged that inflation had soared, fuel price moved from N86.50 to N250-N300 per litre in various parts of the country, while the nation’s debt profile had continued to escalate.
He added, “Today, the world knows that what obtains in Nigeria is the direct persecution of opposition members under the guise of a fight against corruption, which has been aided by intimidation of the judiciary and incessant harassment of journalists.
“The PDP therefore urges President Buhari’s handlers to stop embarrassing the nation, especially at the international stage.
“We know that the Presidency sought to use the Ghana visit to curry international endorsement for their 2019 re-election bid, unfortunately, they reaped a harvest of international embarrassment and ridicule.”
The PDP urged the President to be wary of turning Nigeria into a joke in the international arena, “especially when the world knows what is obtainable in his government.”
