The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described as “insensitive” President Muhammadu Buhari’s comments to German Chancellor, Angela Merkel that Nigerians caught attempting to enter Germany and other European countries illegally were on their own.
According to a Saturday evening statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said Buhari showed by the statement that he could not care less about the plight of his compatriots.
The Herald recalls that Buhari made the statement while hosting Merkel at the State House, Abuja on Thursday.
He said, “So, the position of this administration is very clear, we do not support anything illegal, and anybody who feels that his country does not value, does not offer him what he should be offered as a citizen and decided to defy the desert and the Mediterranean is doing it at his own risk.”
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However, the PDP accused Buhari of creating the situation that is forcing many Nigerians into becoming illegal migrants.
The statement read in part, “While the PDP does not, in any way, support illegal migrations, our party holds that such does not warrant incendiary statement against our citizens by no less a person than the President, who should be seeking for ways to solve the problem.
“The PDP notes that such statements by our President against Nigerians fuel violent attacks and inhuman treatment being meted out against our citizens abroad, including those with legitimate documents and engaged in lawful activities.
“The party says that President Buhari has shown that he is not bothered that no fewer than 10,000 Nigerians died in the deserts between January to May 2017 alone, while trying to escape the economic hardship and escalated insecurity occasioned by his misrule.
“Is it not disturbing to Mr President that reports by Nigerian Immigration Services showed that many more Nigerians have been trapped in detention and slave camps in various parts of the world?
“Also, is it not an act of gross leadership failure that, in his outburst against Nigerians, President Buhari admitted that they left in search of “greener pastures”, yet he could not articulate any solution to mitigate the suffering his administration has unleashed on our nation in the last three years?
“Mr. President knows he is the cause of the problem, yet he has no words of assurances for suffering Nigerians. Instead, he has continued to worsen the situation with unsavory statements against our nation and her citizens whenever he is before an international audience.
“If President Buhari is not condemning our youths as lazy and lovers of freebies, he is disparaging our women as inconsequential or demarketing our nation to investors as corrupt.
“The PDP further holds that it is the duty of the President, as elected leader of government, to pursue the fundamental human rights of his citizens , as well as find solution to the problems that is pushing Nigerians to adopt illegal migration, irrespective of the huge risks, as option for survival.
“Moreover, if the Buhari administration and the APC had not wrecked our once robust economy, Nigerians would not be seeking for greener pastures in other lands.
“Furthermore, the PDP laments that in another exhibition of incompetence, President Buhari could not articulate any strong response to the economic proposals brought by the German leader, thereby squandering our nations opportunity of benefiting from her visit.
“It has therefore become clearer that there is no way our nation can survive another four years under a leadership such as the Buhari-led APC administration, hence the determination by Nigerians to rally on the platform of the repositioned PDP to throw up a competent President to effectively pilot the affairs of our nation, come 2019.”