Covid-19 Pandemic: PDP Knocks Buhari, APC, Says They Have Failed Nigerians Woefully

By Akinwale Kasali

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has not hidden its disappointment in the handling of the outbreak  COVID-19 pandemic in the country by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration and his Political Party, APC.

PDP’s  National Publicity Secretary  Kola Ologbodiyan has once again, on Friday,  came hard federal government over its approach.

The PDP said the government’s approach was parochial and marred by alleged corruption, nepotism, incompetence and narrow-minded politics.

Ologbondiyan spanked the administration for rebuffing wise counsel on the pandemic, chiding  the it for what it described as attempts to shift the brunt of its failures to articulate and coordinate an effective national response to the pandemic to State governors.

The PDP said the government is presently doing a damage control after it had badly managed the situation, and now looking towards State governors for a solution to the Pandemic.

The PDP further accused the federal government of muddling up the process, leading to confusion across the country and consequential spike in infection and fatality rates.

It, also, dismissed the FG’s call on governors as very late in the day, when there is little or no remedy to the situation on ground.

The PDP recalled how, at the early stage, well-meaning Nigerians called for the active involvement of state governors, the private sector and critical stakeholders for an effective multi sectoral and multilayered approach.

The party regretted that the federal government rebuffed the wise counsel and instead, chose a parochial approach.

The statement reads: “The Buhari Presidency rebuffed wise counsels and settled for a parochial response marred by corruption, nepotism, incompetence and narrow-minded politics, only to now turn to seek to transfer the brunt of its colossal failure to state governors.

“The PDP announcement by the National Coordinator of the failed Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Dr. Sani Aliyu, that state governments should now start taking ownership of the response, is an acceptance of failure by President Buhari, who failed to lead from the front but abdicated the task to incompetent and narrow-minded officials.

“The PDP notes that the poor handling of the COVID-19 response has further highlighted the APC-led Federal Government’s lack of capacity to manage important national issues.

“Our party invites Nigerians to note that the three arears where the Buhari-led Federal Government took up the management of the COVID-19 pandemic, namely; Abuja, Lagos and Ogun states, had recorded very high statistics in infection and fatality rates compared to states where it was not involved.

“This shows that had President Buhari involved the states and allowed for a multilayered, people-based approach in the distribution of palliatives, development of therapeutics and implementation of protocols, the situation would have been better handled.

“Now that the Buhari Presidency has come to its wits end, our party urges governors elected on the platform of the PDP to assist their colleagues in the APC with information, strategies and expertise, for effective national response to the pandemic”.

The main opposition party further urged the President and the PTF to do the nation a favour by taking accommodation in the backseat and allowing competent hands to manage the COVID-19 situation.

The party also urged state governors to brace up to the occasion and rally the private sector for home-grown solutions, “which the APC-led Federal Government had failed to achieve due to sheer incompetence and corruption.”

The PDP charged the administration to immediately give detailed account of all funds and other resources it claimed to have spent, particularly on palliatives; a scheme the party said, had been exposed to be a huge scam.