By Tosin Olatokunbo
Few hours after President Muhammadu Buhari new-year address to the nation the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has described the speech as uninspiring.
The president had during his national broadcast, touched many challenges confronting the country and his government’s plan to address them, including a promise to rejig the security architecture for better performance.
Buhari said “Re-energizing and reorganizing the security apparatus and personnel of the armed forces and the police with a view to enhance their capacity to engage, push back and dismantle the operations of both internal and external extremist and criminal groups waging war against our communities in some parts of the country,” will be the focus of his government going forward.
The PDP said the speech contained lame excuses and empty promises. adding that the country is fast heading to a failed state.
The statement by Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP National Publicity read in part “As a president, President Muhammadu Buhari has not demonstrated the capacity to play his own part, as he claimed, having failed to find a solution for the security and economic challenges that pervade our nation under his incompetent and lethargic watch,” the PDP said in a statement on January 1, 2021.
“The myriads of lame excuses in Mr President’s address again underlines our national misfortune of weak leadership that is unable to resolutely confront and vanquish bandits, terrorists, kidnappers and vandals who are now holding our nation hostage, ravaging our communities, kidnapping and beheading our compatriots without restrain.
“The situation at hand requires more than an armchair commander in chief who only dwells on excuses for manifest failures. President Buhari’s New Year address only points to the fact that our nation is in dire need of a leadership that is willing, able and ready to engage from the fronts.
“On the economy, Mr President failed to articulate a definite economic recovery blueprint. He had no clear strategies to shore up the value of our naira, repay and end our foreign borrowings, revamp our external reserves, give hope to foreign investors, move promises of job creation from the perpetual drawing board and guarantee food security, health care among others.
“Mr President had the opportunity to redeem his administration by taking steps that will address high costs of food, education and housing deficit; address the high price of fuel, multiple taxes and tariffs that bear pressure on businesses and families as well as how to enhance national productivity and grow our Gross Domestic Produce (GDP).’
The party said, more Nigerians are getting frustrated describing government’s handling of the EndSARS protest as one of its fault lines, adding that that Buhari’s administration is highly repressive.
