By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has advised former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, not to infuriate Nigerians by trying to compare it’s tenure with those of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The PDP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary Kola Ologbondiyan on Monday said that by trying to compare what he described as decadent APC regime to the highly productive and development-oriented PDP was an unpardonable disservice to the nation.
The party expressed worry that Prof. Jega, who only recently described the APC and the Buhari administration as a failure, would be attempting an image laundering just a few weeks after he was offered an appointment as Chairman of Governing Council of University of Jos by President Buhari.
“Perhaps the Professor needs to be reminded of how the PDP worked hard to revamp our nation’s economy, paid off our huge foreign debts and went ahead to grow the economy to become the largest investment hub in Africa as well as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with Fitch B+ rating; only for the APC to wreck the economy and turned our nation into the world poverty capital and a debtor country in a space of six years.
“Prof. Jega must also be reminded how the PDP reinvigorated the private sector with new businesses and employments springing up in critical sectors of telecoms, aviation, agriculture, manufacturing, oil and gas, education, retailing, hospitality, healthcare and banking among others.
“Today, under the APC and Buhari, these gains have been wrecked with massive closure of businesses, which saw over 60 million Nigerians losing their means of livelihood, with alarming 33.3 percent unemployment rate and over 82.9 million more and about 25 million families not being able to afford their daily meals as our country ranks 98th out of 107 in Global Hunger Index, due to the obnoxious policies of the APC and President Buhari.
“Perhaps the former INEC chairman has forgotten how the PDP stabilized our fiscal economy and handed over our naira to the APC at N160 to a dollar only for the APC to wreck our currency to a dismal N510 to a dollar.
“He may have also forgotten how the PDP handed over the cost of fuel at N87 per liter and how the APC has hiked it to N165 per liter with attendant pressure on our economy” PDP stated.
The party claimed that it’s regime ran an all-inclusive and transparent administration that guaranteed freedom of speech, equity, fairness as well as free and fair electionswhile the APC is running a massively corrupt, insensitive, divisive and exclusionist administration that has destroyed national cohesion and turned the country into a battle field.
“As professor of political science, Prof. Jega ought to know that while the PDP is an ideologically based political party, the APC is just a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) operated on the basis of deception and that is why it has failed in all ramification and now fizzled in the eyes of the law”.
The party further told Jega that Nigerians are yet to forget the roles he played in bringing the APC’s administration into office.
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