APC criticizes PDP Govs for blaming Tinubu, Buhari for economic woes

Kunle Sanni

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has criticized governors from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for blaming President Bola Tinubu and his predecessor for the country’s economic challenges and the alleged destruction of institutions built during the PDP’s 16-year reign.

In a communiqué issued at the end of their meeting in Enugu on Wednesday, the PDP governors condemned the current administration’s economic policies, claiming they have led to widespread hardship among Nigerians.

The Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum and Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, presented their position following the four-hour meeting.

According to Mohammed, the PDP Governors’ Forum expressed “profound dismay and grave concern” about the APC-led Federal Government’s mishandling of the economy following extensive talks and consultations.

The governors also encouraged President Bola Tinubu’s administration to move quickly to restore the previous splendour of the country. They alleged that the APC-led administration had undone the enormous gains achieved during the 16 years of PDP rule.

Felix Morka, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, responded in a statement on Thursday, stating that the opposition party ought to hide its face in shame due to the corruption it allowed to exist during its 16 “inglorious” years of power over Nigeria. “PDP governors – barefaced heirs of a legacy of sleaze and ruin” was the title of the statement.

The ruling party said, “It is a sad irony that PDP governors who congregated to discuss the newly won financial autonomy of local governments, the most remarkable breakthrough in democratic transformation in our country since 1999, ended their meeting pointing their scabby political fingers at the APC government that accomplished a reform that the PDP did not and could not initiate, let alone deliver, in all of its desolate 16 years in government.

“By their statement, it is now obvious that the PDP governors lack understanding of their place and responsibility in our system of government. They do not understand the seriousness of the responsibility they bear as chief executives of their states to justify the resources at their disposal to build and bolster their domestic economies for the good of their people.

“The same PDP governors, many of whom have failed to pay the legal minimum wage to their workers, huddled together, without any sense of shame, to accuse the President Bola Tinubu-led administration of delay in approving a new minimum wage for workers. These are the same governors that, only a few weeks ago, publicly proclaimed their inability to pay the proposed new minimum wage to their workers.”