By Myke Uzendu. Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the 2021 New Year address of President Muhammadu Buhari as empty, directionless, stressing that it has confirmed that the country lacks a leader.
The party’s spokesperson in a statement on Friday said that the President’s speech underscores the need for Nigerians to come together and salvage the country.
The PDP lamented that the New Year speech was a regurgitated script full of lame excuses and empty promises that addresses nothing.
He said that with the Speech, President Buhari has not demonstrated any capacity to find solution for the security and economic challenges that pervade the nation under his watch.
“The myriads of lame excuses in Mr. President’s address again underlines our national misfortune of a weak leadership that is unable to resolutely confront and vanquish bandits, terrorists, kidnappers and vandals who are now holding our nation hostage, ravaging our communities, kidnapping and beheading our compatriots without restrain.
“The least Nigerians expected from Mr. President, in the New Year, was a decisive will to tackle our security challenges by reviewing his parade and heeding the demands by Nigerians to rejig our nation’s security architecture.
“The situation at hand requires more than an armchair commander in chief who only dwells on excuses for manifest failures. President Buhari’s New Year address only points to the fact that our nation is in dire need of a leadership that is willing, able and ready to engage from the fronts” PDP stated.
The party said that the President could not articulate a definite economic recovery blueprint, had no clear strategies to shore up the value of the naira, repay and end foreign borrowings, revamp external reserves, give hope to foreign investors, move promises of job creation from the drawing board and guarantee food security, health care to Nigerians.
The party said that Mr. President failed to use the opportunity to address high costs of food, education and housing deficit; the high price of fuel, multiple taxes and tariffs that bear pressure on businesses and families as well as how to enhance national productivity and grow the Gross Domestic Produce (GDP).
“In the same vein, our party finds it lamentable that President Buhari, in his reference to the demonstration by our youths, did not make any decisive pronouncement to end the on-going persecution of EndSARS protesters or order a Presidential inquest into the reported Lekki killing.
“Moreover, the failure by Mr. President to make direct commitment on budgetary provisions exposes a lack of will and direction, and shows that the next two years under the Buhari-led APC administration would leave our nation with forlorn hope”.
The party urged Nigerians not to despair but use the New Year to reinforce their bond of unity and continue to work together to rescue the nation from misrule.
