PDP Tackles Buhari On N804.7b Bailout

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has reacted to the N804.7 billion approved by President Muhammadu Buhari as bailout to states of the federation.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, the party said the money was got from the Excess Crude Account the President earlier claimed the PDP government depleted in the immediate past administration.

PDP said it believes that the bailout will go a long way in alleviating the sufferings of the Nigerians workers in various states of the federation, most of who have been without their wages for some months.

“A significant amount of the bailout came from savings accumulated in the Excess Crude Account handed over to the Buhari-led All Progressives Congress, APC’s administration by the past PDP-led administration.

“This development is in clear contradiction to the earlier impression given by President Buhari to Nigerians and the international community that they should not expect much from his administration in its first one hundred days because according him, upon assumption of office, he met a virtually empty treasury.”

Metuh said in the statement that, “We want to believe that given the President’s release of such huge amount, he may have realized that he was earlier misdirected on the actual financial state of the nation at the time he took over. In this regard, we expect the President, as a respected statesman to do the needful to correct that erroneous impression.

“Furthermore, we expect President Buhari’s APC administration as direct beneficiary of this savings initiated by past PDP administrations to appreciate the strategic importance of always saving for rainy days and as such guarantee prudent and transparent management of the nation’s resources now under its care.”

The party therefore charged the APC as a party in government to put its house in order, desist from injecting confusion and distracting the President from settling down to form a government and face the enormous challenges of governance, especially the implementation of his long list of campaign promises to Nigerians.

The party said Nigerians are no longer interested in insults, tirades and propaganda but in actions and policies that would move the nation forward, a stance the APC has failed to recognize.