President Muhammadu Buhari may have engaged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors in a seeming self0defeatist battle over their communique in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, denoting the failure of the Buhari administration and the All-Progressives Congress (APC) government inability to tackle insecurity and economic crisis in Nigeria. While berating the PDP governors on their Uyo resolutions, President Buhari could not explain while the wisdom of the wisemen in his administration and the APC government have failed to provide the needed solutions to the socio-economic problems of the country in the past six years of being in power.
President Buhari through the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity in the Presidential Villa, Garba Shehu, had protested that the communiqué of the PDP Governors’ Forum in Uyo was a spectacular demonstration to Nigerians that the opposition party and its representatives should not be entrusted with the national leadership of the country at any time soon.
The PDP governors interrogated the operations of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the deteriorating economic and security situation in the country,
The PDP Governors had at a consultative meeting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, last Monday, expressed perturbation over the “opaque” manner the NNPC operates.
The governors berated the Buhari administration over the recent decision NNPC under the direct supervision of the president, not to make its statutory contributions to the Federation Account, thus, “starving the States and Local Governments, and indeed, Nigerians, of funds needed for employment, development and general well-being”.
The governors had argued that under the Constitution, the NNPC is statutorily bound to make proceeds of sale or business of Petroleum available to the Federation Account which belongs to the three tiers of government, excluding reasonable and verified and verifiable cost of operations.
The president, however, countered the argument, that in chastising the NNPC for not making contributions to the Federation Account, the PDP governors appear to believe NNPC can spend the same money twice – once on the petroleum subsidy – which they all support –then, on their States via the Federation Account.
The SSA on Media and Publicity to President Buhari, therefore, in a statement on Wednesday, asserted: the “NNPC is a trustee for the nation – and this means it must manage its finances with prudence and for the long-term to safeguard the financial support it bestows on our country. What the governors are asking of NNPC is to “break the bank” for their own profligate political ends”.
Garba Shehu had declared: “Similar profligacy and contradiction are in full view with their call to the Central Bank to appreciate the value of the Naira. “This would damage exports – including oil revenues on which NNPC depends – as well as damage small businesses and employment. But an appreciated currency would benefit those spending on luxuries from abroad – this, no doubt, being the leading desire of a typical PDP governor.
“When the governors claim a lack of federal institutions’ money pouring into their States’ coffers is an affront to democracy, constitutionalism, and federalism, they fail to mention the ugliest trend against the integrity of Nigeria comes by own hands with their refusal to support the Federal Government’s earnest desire to reinstate the local government as the third tier and finding a lasting solution to farmer-herder conflicts costing the nation lives and livestock.
“This initiative brings rights and support for generations of all ages to bring solutions to challenges that different communities of our country have faced but the PDP governors reject it – denying all Nigerians their constitutional right to live and work in any state of the Federation – preferring to appeal to ethnic division and hatred rather than support the first practical solution offered since independence.”
President Buhari, in the authorized statement, obviously, shifted from the main issue tables by the PDP governors, reclining into subjective ethnic inclination to solicit solidarity but for which his administration have been widely accused or perceived to have championed to an unprecedented zenith in the country’s governance on the past six years.
Beside other utterances, Garba Shehu concluded that the PDP Governors had proposed no solutions to any of the nation’s challenges in the face of COVID and global economic downturn: “instead, they grasp for more money and mourn their lack of access to social media to spread falsehoods and hate”.
The presidential SSA noted that the governor’s resolution was evidence that if any were needed, why did President Buhari and the APC defeat the PDP one-party rule in 2015, adding why the ruling party was re-elected by an increased margin in 2019, and why their winning trend is set to continue far into the future. He, however, did not state what the APC government is doling to make the Nigerian economy work again, among others.