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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has charged the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, to immediately toe the path of honour and resign for portraying Nigeria as a lying nation and bringing her to international opprobrium by deliberately falsifying claims relating to Nigeria’s relationship with Thailand.
The party said the whole world was shocked when the
ambassador of Thailand to Nigeria, Wattana Kuwongse, publicly denied ever
informing Chief Ogbeh that major rice mills were shutting down in Thailand as a
result of drop in importation of rice by Nigeria as claimed by the minister.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a
statement on Friday, said the development has further dragged down the image of
the nation, which the APC-led administration has wrecked in the last three years.
The party said the minister had neither clarified his claims
nor offered any explanation for the heavy embarrassment he has caused the nation,
adding that such has placed a heavy moral burden on him and the Federal Government.
The PDP also wondered why President Muhammadu Buhari,
as Africa Union Anti-Corruption Champion, has not taken any action to redeem
the image of the nation, after the ugly development.
“It is clear that the intention of the APC-led federal government
was to use the Minister of Agriculture to mislead Nigerians into believing that
the Buhari-led administration has achieved national self-sufficiency in food
production; a stunt which fell flat on its face and brought the nation into
international ridicule,” the party said.
It said further, “Nigerians will recall that the same
minister, last year, programmed the exporting of rotten yams and brought the
country into international disrepute, all in the desperate bid of APC
interests to score cheap political points and push their ill-lucked 2019
re-election bid.
“Earlier this week, President Buhari’s handlers made the
nation a laughing stock in the international arena when they railroaded the president
into offering to help Ghana in the fight against corruption, when back at home,
the APC controlled federal government is an ocean of corruption and false
claims.
“This is a government where officials deliberately issue
false security assurances, particularly in the northeast region, making the
people vulnerable to attacks.
“Nigerians have not forgotten how this government lied that
it had recovered the abducted Dapchi girls only the report to turn false and frustrated
prompt effort that would have led to the recovery of our daughters.
“Nigerians have seen that the hallmark of the APC-led
federal government is falsehood, deception and lies but they are shocked that government
officials could invent and peddle bare-faced lies in the international arena.
“Nigerians can now see the weight of our earlier caution to
always cross-check any information or performance indices issued to them by the
Presidency or officials of the APC government no matter how highly placed,” the
PDP said.
The party therefore charge the Minister of Agriculture to
toe the path of honour and immediately resign and tender and unreserved apology
to Nigerians.
According to the statement, “the fact remains that our
nation cannot continue to run on a government where officials function as
peddlers of falsehood and lies.”
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