PDP jeers Buhari over cancelled Trip to Zamfara
By Munachimso Chukwujindum
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has derided President Muhammadu Buhari for cancelling his planned visit to troubled Zamfara State on Thursday, January 27, 2022.
President Buhari was due to visit the state to condole with the government and the people over the killing of innocent individuals by terrorists. The trip was called off due to poor weather conditions that affected his flight.
The PDP is however not buying that excuse. The party in a statement signed by Debo Ologunagba, it’s National Publicity Secretary, dismissed the President’s excuse noting that he could have explored the option of making the short trip from Sokoto where had commissioned projects that same day, to Gusau by road.
“We ask, did Mr. President cancel the trip to Zamfara State out of fear of terrorists? Was Mr. President, an Army General, with all the security apparatus under his command afraid to travel by road because he was not sure of his security as well as the dilapidated state of our roads under his watch?
“From Sokoto to Gusau, the Zamfara State capital is about 206 kilometers, a journey a leader who has the interest of the people at heart and who is sure of his security could have undertaken by road”, the PDP said in the statement.
The party said President Buhari ought to have reassured Nigerians by travelling to Gusau, instead he opted for a video broadcast in which he promised the troubled people of the state that he looked “forward to a more weather-friendly period when I will visit”.
The PDP said the cancelled trip is another sad demonstration of President Buhari leading from behind against his own promise and commitment to Nigerians to lead from the front in the fight against terrorism.
“Such attitude to governance speaks volumes as to why our nation is in a shambolic state under the Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration which is largely laidback, unconcerned and corrupt. If truly the people matter to Mr. President and his party, the APC; if truly President Buhari and the APC believe in Nigerians and feel their pains; if truly they are very concerned about the wellbeing of the people, then Mr. President would have taken it upon himself, with all the apparatus of power at his disposal, to visit and empathize with the people of Zamfara State who are daily traumatized by terrorists”, the party noted.
The PDP said it was not surprised because the APC and President Buhari are always absent in critical areas of our national life. It said such absenteeism from responsibility is the hallmark of the APC noting that even when prodded to visit such areas, President Buhari would always dwell on excuses, blame game and buck passing.
“Nigerians have not forgotten the sad episode of the Agatu Massacre in Benue State wherein President Buhari, on March 12, 2018, told a bewildered nation that he was not aware that the Inspector General of Police was not in the area as directed by him.
“In Mr. President’s words, ‘I’m not aware that the I.G did not spend 24 hours in the state as directed by me, I am getting to know in this meeting.”’Such was a miserable demonstration of abdication of leadership”, the party said.
The party said such recourse to leadership by proxy is inexcusable and completely unacceptable as Nigeria needs a leadership that is active, people-oriented, humane, functional and result-driven; a task which, it said the APC as a party of propaganda, deceit and lies cannot deliver on.
“The PDP sympathizes with the people of Zamfara State for being made to waste their meagre resources to organize for a Presidential visit only to get an embarrassing and uninspiring video broadcast”, the statement said.
The party called on Nigerians not to despair but remain resolute in rallying on its platform in its mission to rescue and rebuild the nation from the stranglehold of misrule. It admonished Nigerians to keep hope alive as was on the way from the PDP, come 2023.
