Press Statement
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the Presidency’s continuous
reference to a presidential successor, less than a year into President
Muhammadu Buhari’s second tenure, is a direct acceptance of failure and
lack of capacity of the Buhari administration to manage the affairs of a
nation as complex as Nigeria.
The party further notes that President Buhari’s apprehensions that his
party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), will fizzle out before 2023
is also a weighty forewarning to Nigerians not to put any hope
whatsoever in the APC.
The PDP also charges the Buhari Presidency to immediately apologise to
the nation over its comment to “hand Nigeria over”, insisting that such
is a direct affront to Nigerians and a huge insult on their sensibility
and sense of sovereignty to freely choose their leader.
The party invites Nigerians to note that such continued allusion to a
successor by the Buhari Presidency shows that the President and the APC
have no agenda for the nation for the next three years.
It further underscores the hopelessness of the administration and the
sorry situation our nation is faced with under President Buhari and the
APC.
The PDP laments that such underlined the pathetic drift in President
Buhari’s New Year speech as well as his failure to articulate a
clear-cut agenda in critical sectors.
It also exposes the reason behind APC’s resort to blackmail, fabrication
and attack on well-meaning Nigerians instead of enunciating a direction
for its incompetent administration.
Our party, standing with millions of Nigerians, counsels the Buhari
Presidency to bury its confessed interests in the 2023 Presidency and
desist from making unsolicited allusions and references to a successor,
as failed leaders can only bequeath failure on a people.
The PDP therefore charges the Buhari Presidency to immediately withdraw
the offensive and provocative remark to “hand Nigeria over”, in its
response to Rev. Tunde Bakare’s comment on the 2023 Presidency.
Our party cautions the Buhari Presidency to note that Nigeria is a
sovereign nation governed by rules and that nobody, no matter how highly
placed, has the power to hand her over to anybody.
In insisting that President Buhari has interest in his successor, the
Buhari Presidency is in direct aggression against the will of the people
to freely elect a president as guaranteed by the constitution.
The 1999 constitution (as amended) does not confer the right to install
the President of Nigeria on any individual, but on the people of Nigeria
through a free, fair and credible election conducted without
interference from anybody.
The PDP therefore counsels President Buhari to end his interest in the
2023 Presidency and use the remaining years of his tenure to get
competent hands to assists him to manage the affairs of the nation,
while he concentrates on his retirement plans, as Nigerians expect no
solutions from him and his party.
Signed:
Kola Ologbondiyan
National Publicity Secretary
