Page 36 Nigeria’s main opposition political party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has blamed the country’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, for the coronavirus that has now been detected in the country.
In its reaction, the PDP “berated the Buhari Presidency for its negligence and laid back attitude to governance and the welfare of Nigerians, leading to the avoidable entrance of the deadly coronavirus into our dear country”.
The party stated: “It was evident that the Buhari Presidency, not being alive to its responsibilities, as usual, took no concrete steps to hedge our nation against the virus, leading to the current scary situation”, Kola Ologbodiyan, the PDP National Spokesperson, said in a statement.
Read the full statement by the PDP below:
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has berated the Buhari Presidency, for its negligence and laid back attitude to governance and the welfare of Nigerians, leading to the avoidable entrance of the deadly coronavirus into our dear country.
The party says it was evident that the Buhari Presidency, not being alive to its responsibilities, as usual, took no concrete steps to hedge our nation against the virus, leading to the current scary situation.
The PDP notes that a responsive and proactive government, would have mobilised effective surveillance and screening measures, to ward off the menace, particularly at our entry points, but the incompetent, insensitive, and indifferent Buhari administration, was more interested in propaganda and unnecessary showboating, with false performance claims.
The party also recalls that the Buhari administration had done nothing to assist Nigerian citizens stranded in China, despite their pleas, just the same way it abandoned our compatriots who were being murdered in the heat of xenophobic attacks, in South Africa.
The PDP says that Nigerians should directly hold the Buhari Presidency responsible, should any national calamity arise from COVID-19, in addition to the economic and security challenges its negligence had caused our nation.
Due to the negligence and incompetence of the Buhari administration, Nigerians can no longer move freely across their country, for fear of insurgents, bandits, kidnappers, and now coronavirus.
Indeed, the Buhari government is a huge misfortune to our nation. This latest leadership failure further validates widespread calls for it to step aside, for more competent hands to manage the affairs of our country.
The PDP therefore, calls on Nigerians not to despair, but stir up the Nigerian resilient spirit for an urgent, multi-sectoral concerted effort by Agencies, groups, corporate entities, and public-spirited individuals, to immediately curb the disease, before it spreads, particularly given the prevalent security, economic, and humanitarian challenges in the country.
The party calls on the Federal Government to end its cosmetic attitude and immediately adopt the proactive strategy used by the PDP administration, to promptly contain the Ebola Virus disease, in 2014.
The PDP also advises Nigerians to be very vigilant, and follow intervention directives, to ensure that the disease does not spread in the country.
The party urges the Ministry of Health to continue to be open, and not allow propaganda, speculations, and misinformation, in the handling of this health emergency.
