The Peoples Democratic Party on Wednesday issued a statement calling for President Muhammadu Buhari to step down from office over his poor handling of the country’s economy.
Dayo Adeyeye, spokesman for the PDP caretaker committee, said Mr. Buhari had exhibited “crass ineptitude” since he assumed office last year, a situation that has “given rise to high rate of unemployment, fall in output and increase in government borrowing.”
Today’s statement comes two weeks after the party released a similarly onefollowing news that the economy had officially slid into recession.
The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics said on August 31 that Nigeria’s economy, which was the biggest in Africa before South Africa reclaimed the spot last month, was effectively in a recession because of the negative growth recorded in the first two quarters of 2016.
Diminishing crude oil revenues and falling value of the naira have been blamed for the downturn, which has also seen prices of commodities skyrocket.
In its statement Wednesday, the PDP said Mr. Buhari was to blame for the hard times. The opposition party said it longed for the days when items were sold at lower prices.
“Our call for the President to return the country to how he met it in 2015 is justified on the following grounds: a bag of rice was N7,000 and now it’s above N20,000; a mudu of beans was N150 and now it’s N500; one US Dollar was trading for N197 but now it’s over N400; a litre of fuel was N87 but now N145; cost of transportation and other services have skyrocketed,” the party said.
The PDP also slammed the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, over her recent comment that “recession is a word.”
Mrs. Adeosun’s critics said it was unfortunate that a finance minister could be seen playing down the gravity of a country ravaged by economic hardship.
The PDP said Mrs. Adeosun’s comment had further established that the Buhari administration lacked the capacity to effectively run the country.
“The crass ineptitude and lukewarm-attitude of this APC government is no longer tolerable, and therefore, we are calling on President Buhari and his team to return Nigeria to its state of a booming economy before they assumed office in May 2015, and then quit immediately to allow other capable leaders recover our ailing economy.”
When contacted, Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, said the presidency does not comment on statements from the PDP.
The chairman of APC, John Oyegun, in his response said the PDP “lacked the moral grounds to call on anyone to resign from office.”
“For 16 years, the PDP destroyed the country. In vital areas such as agriculture, health and the economy, the PDP failed to ensure development even while they were looting proceeds from the sale of crude oil,” Mr. Oyegun said.
