Buhari's London Holiday: Presidency replies PDP, says Nigerians no longer believe the opposition party

Buhari during one of his travels

Presidency has described claims by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that President Muhammadu Buhari had taken a 10-day leave in order to leave the stage for illegal and unconstitutional actions by the administration as both ridiculous and a hollow narrative to garner cheap sympathy.

The president left Abuja for for a 10-Day vacation in London early hours of Friday.

On hand to bid him farewell were the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, the Minister of the FCT, Mohammed Bello and the Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari.

While the president is away, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will be in acting capacity as the president.

But the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had alleged that the President’s vacation is a plot to attack the National Assembly and impeach the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu.

In a statement signed by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan on Thursday, the PDP said it was aware of the ploy already perfected in a meeting, on Wednesday night, between the Presidency and some All Progressives Congress (APC) senators, who are now in the minority.

A statement however signed by Malam Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President, Media & Publicity, on Friday, noted that the fact that the president "handed power to his deputy without compulsion is itself exemplary and innovative," something he said the PDP failed to produce in their "16 years of monumental mismanagement and sadistic plunder."

The statement reads thus: "For the benefit of the doubters, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, the vice president who acts in the absence of the president is a lawyer of the highest rank and a social rights crusader who had received local and international acclaim before he took the present office. It is inconceivable that this is the team to copy the bad manners cast in stone in the PDP.

"We welcome objective criticism and take them seriously and humbly, but Nigerians must by now be tired of a party, the stock in trade of which is to cry wolf where there is none, ostensibly to spread negativity and distract the president’s attention from the cleansing operations he has been mandated to carry out.

"The president is carrying out difficult reforms for the future growth of the country, such as the implementation of the ease of doing business, the Treasury Single Account, TSA, the whistleblower process, and hundreds of others, including the massive investment in rail, roads and power. 

"If such reforms had happened in 16 years of the PDP, it would have made things much better for the country.

"Instead, they seem to be fixated with a desperate quest for power, nothing but power for its own sake because they have nothing to offer. They draw a sadistic pleasure when things appear to be going wrongly, yet they offer nothing by way of remedy or solutions.

"The whole country is fighting corruption and the ordinary citizen is happy about all that is happening. The economic parameters have changed for the better, a clear indication that the administration’s political and economic strategies are working but the opposition is not interested.

"If the PDP doesn’t have anything that would help our farmers, women, the common man and the youth, they should just keep quiet.

"In the end, one thing Nigerians should take away from the cacophonous falsehoods from the PDP and the tenants back in their tent is that they all fear one thing, that their old records will be reopened."

Garba Shehu
Senior Special Assistant to the President
(Media & Publicity)
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