The PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation (PPCO), yesterday, faulted President Muhammadu Buhari’s claims that the nation is more secure on his watch, pointing out that there is a lot of bloodletting going on.
The opposition party, while reacting to APC’s presidential campaign flag-off in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State, described it as a mockery of President Muhammadu Buhari, adding that the cold response of the crowd showed how much Nigerians now begrudge him over his failures in governance.
The director, Media and Publicity of PPCO, Kola Ologbondiyan, said: “Nigerians were alarmed when Mr President claimed that the nation was secure under his rule when there are killings and daily bloodletting in various parts of our country; when insurgents, who had been pushed to the fringes of the North East by the PDP administration in the lead-up to the conduct of the 2015 elections in all the local governments in the country, have under the Buhari administration spread to other states of the north.
“While Mr President was making his claims, insurgents had taken Baga; there are killings going on in Zamfara and our soldiers and policemen are being killed by terrorists due to neglect of his administration.
“Our citizens were further startled when President Buhari claimed that he has achieved food security when in actual fact there is hunger and starvation everywhere. This statement not only confirms the Buhari Presidency’s proclivity for false claims but also shows that Mr President is completely insensitive to the plight of Nigerians.
“President Buhari further embarrassed his office on his claims of commitment towards the war against corruption when he was surrounded at the podium by individuals who are facing corruption allegations, including the director -general of his campaign, Rotimi Amaechi, the APC factional national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, his south south zonal director, Godswill Akpabio, and a host of others.
Ologbondiyan further noted that First Lady Aisha Buhari, who was by President Buhari’s side throughout his 2015 campaign, conspicuously shunned Mr President’s 2019 re-election flag-off apparently in fulfillment of her stance not to support him for a second term if he failed in his first tenure.
The party added that it was “a pitiable sight as an embarrassed President Buhari could only slur, failed to articulate any clear reason for seeking re-election and had to cut short his presentation when he realised that the rented crowd, which refused to carry APC brooms, was not paying attention to him.
“More embarrassing was that, apparently miffed by Mr President’s attempt at yet another false performance claim, the crowd started leaving the venue of the rally at the time he was being handed his party’s flag by his factional national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, a development that led to a hurried closure of the event.”
The PPCO, however, counselled President Buhari to use his failed campaign flag-off to know that no amount of crowd renting, vote-buying and intimidation of the opposition can change the resolve of Nigerians to vote him out of office in February 2019
