PDP biggest obstacle to good governance — Presidency

The Presidency yesterday said that the leading opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), represented the single biggest obstacle to good governance and change that the country needs and the people are yearning for.

The presidential media aide, Garba Shehu, was reacting to the statement issued by the PDP spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, in which he asked President Muhammadu Buhari to withdraw his alleged 2023 third term ambition and use the remaining years of his administration to deliver good governance to Nigerians.

The PDP statement issued on Wednesday also added that the “continued allusion” to a successor by the Buhari Presidency allegedly showed that the President and the APC had no agenda for the nation for the next three years.

However, the Presidency in a statement advised the PDP to focus on its “grim future”, stressing that self-respect and sound political judgement demanded that the party took an introspective look at itself after two successive defeats in national elections.

The statement read, “As the People’s Democratic Party, the country’s main opposition party grapples with deeply troubling questions about its terminal decline and future in national politics, Nigerians must be surprised reading a statement issued by them,  assuming the role of Spokesmen for President  Buhari.

What business do they have talking about alleged love lost between President Buhari and the APC? What do they know? Who sent them?

“Both self-respect and sound political judgement demand that the Party takes an introspective look at itself after two successive defeats in national elections, asking what went wrong and how to fix its battered image.

“They need to go back to the people, in towns and villages, to know what the people want and what the country needs. Instead of doing that, they are taking roles for themselves that are not mandated by law, morality or political gamesmanship.

“What business do they have issuing a statement on the love or the lack of it between the President and his party? This is not why they lost elections. The party needs a reboot that aligns with current national mood and aspirations, to focus on their grim future after two successive defeats. It is the issue they need to focus on if they are to be taken as a serious opposition party again.

“A tough task awaits anyone leading a party with nothing to offer to contemporary Nigerians but corruption, misgovernance and division.

“As for the APC, the geographical expansion of the party is nothing short of a testimony to the rosy future that lies ahead. The party has come to stay, and the President and the country will ensure that this is achieved.”