President Buhari and APC needs prayers to deliver - PDP

After a careful evaluation of the first 30 days of President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday said it had become obvious that Nigerians need to join hands in prayers to save the government from further inaction and dithering.

The party said the call for prayers had become necessary given the fact that the administration was finding it difficult to locate its bearing and even take off and face the challenges of governance at the centre, resulting in 30 days of all motion and no movement, a scenario that does not augur well for the polity.

PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, in a statement in Abuja said the enormity of the confusion surrounding the government and party in the last one month had made it imperative for Nigerians to pray as the success or failure of the Buhari administration would not only affect the president and his party but also the entire nation.

“We urge Nigerians to join hands in prayers and offer useful suggestions to Buhari and the APC because with what we have seen in the last 30 days, the present administration is finding it very difficult to get its bearings right while showing no inclination towards implementing its numerous campaign promises for which they were voted into office at the centre.

“We are deeply worried that the president who promised to unveil his cabinet two weeks after his inauguration, has not been able to decide on key appointments such as ministers, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), a Chief of Staff and advisers in key sectors of the economy.

“This is more so as the delay has brought government business in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to a dangerous standstill with coordination of important policies vested on ministers and the SGF now in tatters while the system drifts. This situation also creates loopholes through which overzealous persons around that President can connive with unscrupulous elements in the bureaucracy to syphon public resources in addition to possibly misleading the president to violate due process by spending beyond and outside his statutory limits.

“The situation is taking its toll on the economy, which has in the last 30 days witnessed unprecedented decline with a terrifying crippling of foreign and domestic investments including activities in the money and capital market sectors. Under President Buhari, the stock market has lost over N238 billion while the All-Share Index fell by 849.87 basis points as at June 19.

“In security, apart from the directive to relocate the countre terrorism command center to Borno State and seeking assistance from foreigners, no other concrete step has been taken in the fight against insurgency which the President in his April 22, 2015 CNN interview promised to end within his two months in office.

“Instead, the anti-terrorism effort has completely lost steam in the last 30 days, with insurgents, who had already been pushed to the verge of surrender in the Sambisa forest by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, now surging back and spreading into the country.

“Finally, while we remind the president and the APC that their campaign promises are bonds which must be fulfilled, we urge him to use the next 10 days to set up his government by naming his ministers, the SGF and advisers in critical sectors as Nigerians did not vote for a sole administrator but for a democratic government.”

Credit: Jaiyeola Andrew/ThisDay