By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP-GF) on Monday said that the luxury and comfort the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media, Garba Shehu is enjoying at the Presidential Villa has completely blinded him from empathising with Nigerians whose are passing through untold hardship under the Buhari administration.
The governor’s after a meeting in Umuahia last week had issued a communique where they made a comparative sketch of Nigeria of 2015 under PDP and Nigeria of 2022 under APC and came to a conclusion that things have gotten worse by over 1000% in all sectors.
But Shehu described the communique as a fantasy, delusional, fictional and even derided Nigerian armed forces as “phantom soldiers”.
However the Director General of PDP-GF, Hon. CID Maduabum said that Shehu “was dazed by the sheer assemblage of facts, figures and evidence on the existential threat Nigeria is facing as a result of the APC misrule, with respect to the economy, security, stealing of Nigeria’s crude, etc. as contained in the communiqué”.
The governor’s said that the present hardship in the country is reflected in prices of basic foodstuffs, unemployment rate, electricity prices, kerosene, diesel, fuel, aviation fuel and air ticket prices which have all gone through the roof.
“Indeed, all aspects of life in Nigeria are being systematically destroyed by the APC administration. Life has become short, brutish and valueless in Buhari’s Nigeria as insecurity ravages the land. But this is not the problem of Garba shehu, who is enveloped in the Presidential Villa, totally oblivious of the suffering and agony Nigerians are facing”.
The PDP leaders said that the most disturbing aspect of APC misrule, corruption and outright stealing is in the petroleum sector directly under the control of President Muhammadu Buhari who is the Minister of Petroleum Resource.
“The stealing of Nigeria’s crude oil and the connivance of NNPC in shortchanging other tiers of government, namely, States and Local Governments is simply mind bogging, if not outright criminal. Nigeria now produces 1.1million barrels of crude oil per day. It has capacity to produce 2.5million per day. It cannot even meet its OPEC quota of 1.8million per day. NNPC is a law unto itself. Nobody can call them to order to desist from the part of lawlessness and unconstitutional acts it has chosen to dwell in. Of course, President Buhari is the Minister of Petroleum Resources. Under his watch, the Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Sector is deteriorating. In an accountable government, he should have resigned his position as Minister of Petroleum, as a result of the cataclysmic failures in the sector.
“It is even shocking that Garba Shehu admits that funds from NNPC are now directly used to fund social and health programmes, road construction etc, in an unconstitutional overreach. NNPC can spend the Federal Government’s share of the Federation Account as it pleases. It cannot spend money belonging to other tiers of government without their approval. NNPC cheats States and Local Governments. NNPC recklessly squanders money belonging to other tiers of government and has the audacity and impudence to pay Zero amount of money into the Federation Account.
“Garba Shehu conveniently ignored the facts in the PDP Governors Communique that exposed the deduction of N788billion for NNPC’s own chosen projects without recourse to the Federation Account; the deduction of N8.3billion monthly for rehabilitation of refineries in Nigeria that do not work; the scandal called petroleum subsidy that gulps trillions of naira yearly without accountability and value for money. Between 2012 and 2021, N7.6T has been withheld by NNPC from the Federal Account. Yet, Garba Shehu kept mum on these scandalous disclosures.
“What did Garba Shehu say about 18 Federation Revenue Agencies that have refused to remit funds to the Federation Account in breach of the Constitution? Nothing! What an impunity? What a robbery? What a reckless and whimsical approach to governance!”
The governor’s were in agreement that the “Buhari Presidency by all objective accounts is the worst in Nigerias history in managing our diversity. Under APC’s 7 years rule, Nigerians no longer trust one another, ethnic and religious differences are not properly managed. All our fault lines are exposed and exacerbated”.
The governor’s said that there is no strategy, no concerted effort to stabilise the value of the Naira as the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, is openly running for the office of President, spending billions in television and newspaper advertisement and other costly engagements.
“There can be no better evidence of government adrift, unconcerned and rudderless. Without care about how the economy runs. The sheer arrogance of being in such a sensitive office and running for President is quite outstounding” the governor’s lamented.
The PDP Governors asked the government to wake up from its deep slumber but expressed hope that the PDP is poised to Rescue and Rebuild Nigeria as the people have lost faith in the present government.
