The campaign organisation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, Saturday, mocked President Muhammadu Buhari, saying he belongs to a “select few.”
Mr. Buhari, who had during his inauguration on May 29, 2015, said, “I belong to everybody, I belong to nobody,” has been strongly criticised for enthroning nepotism in the country.
Citing a statement credited the president while receiving select Southeast leaders, Atiku group lambasted Mr. Buhari for dismissing the region’s endorsement of the PDP presidential flagbearer.
“Speaking at a meeting with a select group of southeast ‘leaders’ on Friday the president poured scorn on the leaders and people of the Southeast zone who gave the endorsement.
“We are not surprised by this act of desperation. Muhammadu Buhari has always been a divisive leader. Indeed, he even began his presidency on a divisive note.
“We recall, with great sadness, that when he was invited to speak at the United States Institute for Peace on July 22, 2015, President Buhari said ‘the constituents, for example, that gave me 97 per cent cannot, in all honesty, be treated on some issues with constituencies that gave me five per cent,” the Atiku group said.
Three years after making that statement, the group said President Buhari has shown he has not changed.
The group called on Nigerians to compare between the president’s meeting with a select group of Southeast leaders and the meeting Mr. Abubakar had in Enugu on Wednesday.
While it said the PDP candidate met with Southeast leaders cutting across political, religious, social and economic lines, the group said Mr. Buhari’s meeting was with a few leaders of the region.
“At the said event, President Buhari also said ‘we will not get tired of speaking about the golden opportunity Nigeria lost during 16 years of the PDP”.
“We want to remind the President that under the PDP, Nigeria was rated the happiest nation on earth, by Gallup Polls and other rating agencies, not once, but twice.
READ ALSO: I did not collect salary for 8 years as governor — Aregbesola
“Alas, under President Buhari’s administration, Nigeria has officially been named as the world headquarters for extreme poverty not once, but twice.
“The first was by the World Poverty Clock and the second was by the World Economic Forum.
“Moreover, major infrastructure Nigerians are enjoying today, including the only federal university in President Buhari’s home state, the Abuja-Kaduna railway, Olorunshogo, Afam and Papalanto power plants, the revived national railway and the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria, which has eliminated frequent plane crashes, were all built by PDP administrations.
“The President is also reminded that when Atiku Abubakar headed the National Economic Council that paid off Nigeria’s entire foreign debt, under the able leadership of President Olusegun Obasanjo, crude oil sold for precisely one-third of what it is selling today.
“President Obasanjo and then Vice President Atiku Abubakar simply paid off the debts piled up by past military administrations, including Buhari’s draconian military dictatorship, without complaining of blaming.
“Sadly, President Buhari is not aware of the basic rudiments of leadership, which is that when the government starts blaming the opposition for its own failure to perform, it is an admission that the government has failed.
“Atiku Abubakar will not stoop so low to blame others for things he is meant to fix. Atiku means JOBS for Nigerians, not blame for Nigerians.
“This is a message we urge all Nigerians to internalise as we call on citizens to join the Let’s Get Nigeria Working Again Movement.”