A group, the People’s Rights
Assembly (PRA), has fired back at the presidential candidate of the opposition
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar over his claim that the
best Nigeria enjoyed was under the PDP government.
PRA was reacting to the claim by
Atiku in Ibadan earlier in the week at the South-West zonal presidential rally
of the party that Nigeria was blossoming before the APC government came on
board in 2015.
Atiku said he headed the best
economy team for Nigeria between 1999 and 2003, adding that such prosperity
will be returned to Nigeria in 2019.
Simon Achusa and Bolaji Akiloye,
President and Secretary General of the group, respectively, in a rejoinder to
Atiku’s assertion, described the Turakin Adamwa as a politician who has earned
the unenviable reputation of an alarmist and propagandist, infinitely obsessed
with power.
The statement claimed that the
former Vice President is known throughout Nigeria and worldwide as a politician
with an unstable political character and high quotient for baseless leadership
discontent.
The group said, “If the PDP
governments led Nigerians to prosperity and peace, what motivated Atiku’s
betrayal of the same party he co-founded and its governments severally in 2007
under former President Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ) and in 2013 under former
President Goodluck Jonathan? Atiku speaks and does not listen to himself; he
hardly realizes that he often contradicts in the frenzy of campaigns.
“For eight years, Atiku deputized
OBJ as President. What legacies did that administration bequeath to Nigerians?
None! Atiku as a leader presided over the rape and plundering of Nigeria. As
chairman of the National Council on Privatization and Commercialization (NCPC),
the former Vice President dubiously sold critical national assets to himself
for personal enrichment and to cronies.
“Atiku criminally undervalued
these national assets and dashed them out. None is today functioning optimally.
They laid off tens of thousands of workers and eventually shut their doors to
business. It is the foundation of the pervasive unemployment afflicting Nigeria
today. Is that the prosperity the PDP government brought to Nigerians?
“It is under the PDP government
he served as Vice President that Boko Haram terrorism was formed in 2002 and
nurtured into a monster by 2015. President Muhammadu Buhari inherited a
country, where Boko Haram insurgents seized and effectively occupied 24 LGAs in
the Northeast region.
“Boko Haram’s threat to national
security was potent in virtually parts of the North, including Abuja, the FCT
committing atrocities and heinous crimes against humanity. But the insurgents
have been decimated and defeated under President Buhari. Only God knows what
would have become of Nigeria had PDP continued in power beyond 2015.
“Elsewhere in the South-South
region, the PDP government promoted and commercialized militancy. So, many
militant sects sprouted and were serviced by the PDP government. Kidnap of
foreign oil workers; vandalisation and blowing up of oil installations and
facilities became rampant to the extent of severely disrupting Nigeria’s daily
crude oil production. It dropped to an all-time low, below one million barrels
per day, from 2.2 million barrels when the Buhari Presidency came on board. Is
that the peace the PDP governments brought to Nigeria?
“Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole
Soyinka once infamously described the PDP as populated by a nest of killers.
Till the party was pushed out of power, it made no attempt to vacate the
statement either in action or words. Rather, Nigerians experienced their own
brand of peace with more high profile assassinations of prominent Nigerians
from Harry Marshall to the former Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige.
“That government saved no kobo
for Nigeria. Rather, it deflated Nigeria’s foreign reserves which dropped from
about $47 billion to almost zero by 2015. They piled up unpaid salaries and
pensions of about six months at the federal level and left 27 states indebted
to salaries and pensions. The cumulative effect was to plunge Nigeria into
economic recession by the end of 2014 before they were ousted by angry Nigerian
masses in the 2015 ballot. We do not pray for this sort of prosperity.
“The PDP government had access to
so much national wealth, but it could not investment in critical
infrastructures to attract investments. The roads, hospitals’, power generation
and supply etc were in comatose or a state of disrepair. The PDP claimed
spending $16 billion on power generation, but left the seat of power with 2,300
megawatts of national grid by May 2015. What manner of prosperity? President
Buhari has pushed it to over 7,000 megawatts in just three years.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com