How can a political party that lacks cohesion, that lacks the capacity to manage its own internal affairs hope to run a complex nation like Nigeria?
Raising this poser while taking a swipe at the Peoples DemocraticParty (PDP), the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) described the main opposition party as “a failure and a disaster that should not be allowed to preside over the nation again”.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, the group noted that since the conclusion of the PDP presidential primary election, the opposition party has been torn apart by the decision of Governor Nyesom Wike and his group to throw incendiary remarks at the party.
“The Rivers State Governor and his group are calling for the resignation of the PDP national chairman, Dr Iyochia Ayu, contending that both the presidential candidate of PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and the national chairman of the party cannot come from the same northern part of the country
“This, they say, runs contrary to fairness and zoning arrangement of the party. They also contend that the present arrangement runs contrary to the constitution of the PDP.
“This failure of the PDP is synonymous with its history of misgovernance, having used its 16 years in power to plunder the country’s resources and ended up plunging the country into avoidable security challenges”.
According to BMO, it is an indisputable fact that the lowest ebb to which the PDP’s previous administrations plunged the country was when its top-notchers shared billions of dollars meant for the security of the country on their individual tables.
“It is also public knowledge that despite the huge oil revenue that was earned under the past PDP administrations, rather than deploying them for the development of the country, they frittered the resources away and left the economy comatose.
“We call on Nigerians to note that while the past PDP administration shamelessly shared about $2.3 billion security money among themselves, thereby exarcabating the insecurity in the country, the Buhari administration committed only $600 million to acquire the Tucano jets from the United States and all Nigerians are today witnesses to the positive impact they have been made in our security architecture.
“The impact the $2.3 billion would have made if the money was responsibly deployed at that time to solve our security challenges is better imagined.
“We cannot also forget in a hurry that the mess the PDP plunged Nigeria into during their time were so enormous that the Buhari administration has been inundated with the effect of their failures while it continues to address them with responsible governance for the development of the country.
“This is evident in the provision of infrastructures in the country and reduction in corruption and insecurity”.
BMO noted that the Buhari administration has spent the country’s meagre resources frugally by building landmark infrastructures ranging from roads, railways and airports across the country. “This is a different path from the PDP era when looting and crass maladministration was the order of the day.
“We, therefore, wonder what quality of leadership the opposition party is seeking to bequeath to the country when it has not been able to manage an internal party conflict which has led to the pulling out of a section of the party from the Presidential campaign team of its candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
“We want to say that this is a clear manifestation of total failure of the opposition party in terms of past governance, party leadership and even campaign management. With these obvious failures how can PDP manage the affairs of over 200 million Nigerians?
“How can a party that failed in all areas be promising Nigerians restructuring and a better future? Obviously it shows deceit and incompetence of the PDP and its candidate, and Nigerians are advised to ‘’shine their eyes’’ ahead of the general election to avoid falling prey to the manipulations of the PDP once again”, the statement added.