PDP Blasts Buhari For Refusing To Honour Reps Invitation Over Insecurity

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday slammed President Muhammadu Buhari for not appearing before the House of Representatives after earlier promising to do so.

National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, said by disregarding the invitation, the President snubbed Nigerians who the lawmakers represent.

He spoke with journalists at an interactive session in Abuja.

He said the Buhari administration has failed the nation woefully.

To him, the President’s failure to honour the invitation means that he is afraid to tell Nigerians what he is doing to address insecurity.

He said: “This back and forth from the President on a vital issue as security that is overwhelming our nation underscores our position as an opposition party that nobody is in charge and that this is a broken government.

“Disregarding the nation’s parliament is disregarding Nigerian people because they are representatives of the people.

“The truth, which is worrisome, is that the President either does not know what is happening or does not know what to do, otherwise, he should not be afraid to face the people.

“The hard fact facing all of us now is that this regime has woefully failed Nigerians in all ramifications.

Secondus sais it was unfortunate that the APC government, despite promising to wipe out Boko Karam in 100 days, could not do so five after it took office.

He said: “In my statement to the media last May in the assessment of the five years of All Progressives Congress (APC) administration, I said that APC is a road Nigeria should not have followed.

“Everything on ground in our country today, from insecurity to the recessed economy etc, points to the fact that Nigeria entered the wrong bus in 2015 and they are paying for it because a wrong vehicle cannot take you to your correct destination.”

The PDP chairman said former President Goodluck Jonathan can vie for the party’s presidential ticket for the 2023 general election just like anyone else.

He said the PDP would work to reclaim power from the APC.

According to him, the decision on who gets the party’s presidential ticket in 2023 would be guided by the report of a committee set up by the leadership.

Secondus said: “I stand by my position that the Gov. Bala (Mohammed) led committee is still working. They are coming out with a report on why we lost and by the time they finish, we will take decisions and the decision is not for the National Working Committee but for the entirety of our party.

“I believe that whoever is interested in the 2023 presidential ticket, including the former President, the chances are there because the PDP is a party of all.

“Everybody will have that opportunity but in clear terms, we have not taken any decision to give anybody ticket for now.”

The party chairman, however, described discussions on 2023 elections as premature.

To him, the state of the nation is such that politics or anything concerning 2023 should take the back stage.

“Nigeria is in a comatose state today where APC brought it, that should be our concern now,” he said.

On the recent defection of some prominent PDP chieftains, including a governor and a senator to the APC, Secondus knocked the ruling party for abandoning governance for poaching opposition party members.

He said: “Yes, they have been poaching from virtually all the parties. They have been running around but they have not been successful at all.

“I believe that what should bother them most should be governance, the security, the economy, all that have broken down. The issue is that they should stop running up and down and face the reason why the people gave them the mandate to govern.

“And if they do that, there will be no security issues; there will be no economic issues like hunger. I think that this is the most important thing.”

Arguing that federal lawmakers that defected from the PDP and other parties to the APC committed an act of illegality, the party chair carpeted the National Assembly leadership for failing to apply the law against the defectors.

He said: “For the senators that have moved, we are convinced that it is illegal. The fault is from the leadership of the National Assembly.

“It was not supposed to be that way, but apparently, I don’t believe that the leadership of the National Assembly is looking at the books, at the constitution.

“If they do, they will not accept such a movement. This is again what the media should highlight,” Secondus said.