The ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, while reacting to opposition party Congress for Political Change, CPC’s criticism of President Goodluck Jonathan’s Christmas Day message, has cautioned Nigerians against being taken in by the rhetoric of the party which could end up leading Nigeria to Somalia if given the opportunity.
The CPC had criticized the PDP as “a party more interested in seizing political power than for effective governance” and gave examples of wasteful schemes to include fuel subsidy scams.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, described the statement as a ritual benefit bereft of sincerity and imagination.
According to the party spokesman, President Jonathan had made heavy investments in rail transport, power, education, security, etc, noting that even though the maturity period for some infrastructure is long term, it was abundantly evident that gains could be seen in power, education and rail transport.
”The CPC will definitely be blind to this steady progress because constructive engagement is not the ultimate motivation of its criticism,” the statement added.
While reacting to the allegation that PDP governments were squandering the country’s resources, the party retorted that it was the CPC that even took desperation to new heights in 2011, instigating an orgy of election violence when Nigerians stood firmly behind PDP and voted for it in elections adjudged locally and internationally to be free and fair.
“This can only be true in the diseased imagination of the CPC. The PDP has remained the only truly national party on whose shoulders revolve the unity of the nation. Need we say that a Nigeria in the hands of a political party like the CPC is on an express road to Somalia.”
The statement continued in saying that Nigeria was a pariah state before PDP retrieved it and placed back in the centre of global reckoning. In addition to that, no Nigerian bank collapsed in the middle of a global recession when Western banks were going under.
It also added that the party had liberalized the economy which created new jobs, and created anti-corruption agencies ICPC and EFCC, as well as enacted the Freedom of Information Act, all as part of their efforts in fighting corruption.
“These efforts at fighting corruption has even seen senior members of the party being convicted for corruption.
“We must add, that our battle on corruption is total and that President Jonathan has won the most critical aspect of it which is against electoral corruption. Nigerians now go to the polls and are sure their votes will count””. There is no shorter road to good governance than when mandate and withdrawal of it depend entirely on the people,” the statement concluded.