The People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has replied the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), over comments made about former President, Goodluck Jonathan, saying the party has reneged on its promises and failed Nigerians.

What Jonathan said: 

• The PDP achieved a lot in its 16 years rule.
• No one can intimidate the PDP.
• His administration had a strong economic team to steer Nigeria’s economy into a glorious one.
• Innovations were in place to fight corruption.
• We are ready to take over the Presidency in 2019

What the Presidency said:

• The President Muhammadu Buhari administration was handed an economy ravaged by years of mismanagement and corruption.
• The Jonathan administration presided over the diversion of oil revenues on a such a massive scale.
• Such was the looting that even the goose that was laying the golden egg was being systematically starved.
• President Muhammdu Buhari has a positive and prosperous vision for Nigeria.

How the PDP reacted: 

• PDP publicity secretary, Dayo Adeyeye said there were no indices anywhere that the administration of President Muhammadu ‎Buhari could be measured as performing better than any of the PDP administrations‎ since 1999.
• ‎They pointed out that despite being in charge of the ‎executive and possessing a majority in both houses of the National Assembly, “the APC has failed” Nigerians.
• The PDP claims that the APC has developed a communication strategy around “‎massive propaganda, half truths and outright falsehood” in an attempt to ‎continually deceive the Nigerian people.

The statement in part:

‎‎”The professional propagandists of the APC will realize too late that blaming the ills of the country on past administrations while doing nothing about them for four clear years will not save them on the day of judgement. And the day of reckoning is very much at hand.

‎”It is shameful and embarrassing that having been in power for ‎two and a half years, the ruling party is unable to point to cogent, ‎convincing and data driven achievements.

“As at May 29, 2015, Nigeria was the largest economy in Africa valued at over $500 billion. A combination of the incoherent policies andincompetence of the ruling party have significantly shrunk the size of the Nigerian economy since the inception of the current administration.

“As at May 29, 2015, Nigeria was the No, 1 destination for ‎foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa. Up to that point, investors responded to the policies designed and implemented by the Jonathan a‎dministration by investing billions of dollars in the Nigerian economy.

“However, since the inauguration of the Buhari administration, investors have voted with their feet having been discouraged by the inchoate and incoherent policies being implemented by the APC led federal government.

“The Jonathan administration maintained a ‘Single Digit Inflation Rate’ for several years. Inflation stood at 9.6% at the inception of the Buhari administration.

“The incompetence of the current Economic  Management Team has resulted in inflation rising as high as 18.72% in January 2017 before settling at 16.1% in July 2017. This had led to the Skyrocketing of the Price of goods, services and food items thereby ‎making staples unaffordable to millions of Nigerians.

“It is not a coincidence that the last time Nigerians had to deal with ‎the current level of widespread hunger and lack was when President ‎Muhammadu Buhari held sway as military Head of State between 1984 and 1985.

“The APC led federal government inherited an economy that had grown at an average of 7% per annum for the previous 10 years. Indeed,when President Buhari spoke at the Chatham House in February 2015, he ‎admitted that the Nigerian economy had experienced growth for several ‎years. At the time, several global economic experts projected Nigeria to ‎be among the top 7 growing economies in the world in 2016.

“However, the APC led federal government has managed to lead the nation to 6 consecutive quarters of economic recession without a coherent, ‎cogent strategy to bring our economy out of the woods.”

What might happen in 2019 election:

• Buhari may contest again.
• The PDP and APC’s ‘politricking’ may lead to violence.
• Other parties with ‘qualified’ candidates might not be given a chance to say what they have to offer.

Omoleye Omoruyi

Omoleye Omoruyi… an apprentice web/game developer, novelist, sensitive to happenings in the world. Meet him @Lord_rickie on Twitter/Instagram