The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Benue State as an afterthought.
It said the visit which came about two months after the massacre that left 73 people dead following attacks by suspected herdsmen was needless.
According to PDP, the visit served “only as a large billboard of his (Buhari) administration’s gross insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians.”
The party however said its mega rally, which held in Dutse, Jigawa State, on Monday, had opened a new vista for the party as the true hope for Nigerians.
The PDP said President Buhari’s visits to troubled states, particularly Benue, served no sincere purpose since they did not come from the heart but evidently orchestrated for political reasons.
Read also: Benue killings: We’re doing our best to stop herdsmen attacks -Buhari
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Monday, PDP said it was appalling and highly disheartening that a president could only visit his distressed citizens after a widespread outcry over his aloofness and not out of any genuine concern for their wellbeing.
“What is the purpose of condolence visit when it does not come from the heart but orchestrated to deceive and beguile the people ahead of the 2019 general elections?
“Indeed, we agree no less with Nigerians that this cosmetic and politically motivated visit is nothing but a direct mockery of the dead and a heavy slap on the faces of the bereaved.
“This is the same president, who at the wake of the massacre, summoned the leaders and the bereaved to Abuja, rather than complying with the age-long tradition of Africans by immediately visiting the bereaved.
“Months after their tears have dried and they are painfully gathering their broken pieces, the Presidency is now trying to use them for a political posturing by staging a cosmetic condolence visit just to score a political point,” PDP said.
