The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) appears to have got over the shock of losing the presidential election held on March 28, 2015.
The party, which ruled for 16 years on a stretch, since the return of the country to civil rule in 1999, came close to disintegration following the disgraceful defeat it suffered in the hand of the All Progressives Congress (APC) an opposition party at the time.
It would be recalled that shortly after the election, there were finger-pointing over who did what.
The leadership of the party divided against itself.
Revelations on how the money generated from the sales of nomination and expression of interest forms were disbursed created serious bad blood.
However, rising from the ashes of ignominious defeat and internal wrangling, the party came to itself and determined to come up with strong opposition to the APC led Federal Govern- ment.
The decision was reached at a retreat held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on June 1, attended by governors elected on PDP platform.
They include: Nyesom Wike (host) Ifeanyi Okowa (Del- ta) Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa); Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe); Emmanuel Udom (Akwa Ibom), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), represented by his deputy.
Also in atten- dance were David Mark, former Senate president, and Emeka Ihedioha, former deputy speaker, House of Representatives.
The retreat actually was held for elected members of the party into the National Assembly (senate and House of Representatives).
It was at the instance of Ike Ekweremadu, who is currently the deputy Senate president, and held under the theme: ‘The role of the opposition in facilitating development and good governance’ At the event, Olisa Metuh, PDP national publicity secretary, hinted that once President Muhammadu Buhari settled down for governance, the PDP would be firing from the trenches.
“Our supporters may think we are weak. Let the President settle down; what we will do is that after one week we clock the mileage, one month, six month, one year, periodically we will assess the progress they have made and what happened with the PDP government and Nigerians on their own will decide which party is best to progress democracy in this country,” Metuh said.
The PDP national publicity secretary said his party would be better in opposition than the APC because it wouldn’t resort to propaganda, deceit and shady tactics in tackling the incumbent as the APC did when PDP was in power.
According to him, “The PDP is a political party built on values, tradition and utmost respect for democratic tenets. Our mani- festo and ideology centre on national peace, stability and prosperity and we shall uphold this at all times. In this wise, the PDP as always, will continue to work in the general interest of the Nigerian people.
“We will not resort to insults, blackmail and lies with the aim to distract or ridicule the person or office of the President.
However, we must state in very strong terms that we will not allow them to lead the nation astray. So we will firmly oppose any anti-people policy and programmes as may be introduced by the APC.
“We will do this by presenting sound alternatives in such a manner that Nigerians will be the utmost beneficiaries especially on issues that will lead the nation in the path of national unity and development.”
True to its commitment in this wise, the party took on Buhari and Yemi Osinbajo, vice president, over their inability to publicly declare their assets as they had promised Nigerians during the electioneering campaign.
Although PDP said it would give full reply on the subject matter at the right time, Metuh said: “We will allow President Muhammadu Buhari to settle down and address the promises made to Nigerians; we will talk on asset declaration later.”
Keeping tabs with the goings on in the Buhari administration, PDP, in its assessment of the government in 30 days, concluded that the administration was finding it very difficult to get its bearings right while showing no inclination towards imple- menting its numerous campaign promises for which they were voted into office at the center.
Metuh said PDP was 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 Govern- ment of the Federation (SGF), a Chief of Staff and advisers in key sectors of the economy.
“We urge Nigerians to join hands in prayers and offer useful suggestions to President Muhammadu 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.
“This is more so as the delay has brought government busi- ness in ministries, departments and agencies 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 loop- holes 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 opposition also noted that “The situation is taking its toll on the economy sector, which has in the 30 days wit- nessed unprecedented decline with a terrifying crippling of foreign and domestic invest- ments 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.”
Wondering why the APC, while in opposition was screaming hard on PDP-led govern- ment over the insecurity in the country, Metuh had noted that under the current regime, “apart from the directive to relocate the counter terrorism command centre to Borno State and seeking assistance from foreigners, no other concrete step has been taken in the fight against insur- gency 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 adminis- tration, now surging back and spreading into the country.”
In a manner that bears a semblance of scoffing at the current state of affairs, Metuh said: “In this regard, we urge the President to confront in- surgency and issues of national security with all the vigour they deserve while calling for restrain from actions capable of destroying the fabrics of security intelligence. We also urge for adequate respect for all organs of internal security such as the Directorate of State Security (DSS), which is answerable to the Nigerian state and as such should not be publicly ridiculed by an aide of the President.”
The other day, the PDP, through Metuh alleged that friends and associates of President Buhari had invaded key income generating institutions, raising questions about the present administration’s plans to curb corruption.
“Perhaps we need to draw President Buhari’s attention to the fact that while he is busy clearing his imaginary mess on the pages of newspapers, some persons claiming closeness to him have in the last 30 days been piling up sleazes that also need his attention in key agencies of government,” Metuh said in a statement released in Abuja.
“Despite the absence of ap- proving and supervising officials, key income generating institutions like NNPC, NIMASA, NPA, FIRS and other strategic agencies have been invaded by persons claiming to be friends and associates of the President and this puts to question the sincerity and seriousness of the administration to affect the so- called ‘Change’ upon which they rode to power,” he further said.
