The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described President Muhammadu Buhari’s Independence Day broadcast as a mockery of democracy.
The party said the broadcast was an insult on Nigerians and integrity of Nigeria as an independent state.
In a statement Tuesday by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP stated that President Buhari’s speech was replete with manifest inconsistencies, “contradictions, paradoxes and false performance claims, which further confirm that our dear fatherland is in wrong hands.”
It noted that Buhari, in his address, failed to “address the key issues of freedom, social justice, constitutional order, separation of powers, rule of law, human rights, credible elections, national cohesion, accountability and transparency in government,” which it described as fundamentals of an independent state.
The party regretted that the president had no forceful reassurances on the challenge of escalated insecurity in the country, adding that he had no clear-cut and operable blueprint to revamp the nation’s economy.
PDP accused the administration of wrecking the Nigerian economy within a period of four years, resulting in hardship and despondency that led Nigerians resorting to suicide and slavery abroad as options.
“Our party notes that this address further exposes that the Buhari presidency is not interested in nation building; that it is completely disconnected from the people and remains insensitive to the plights of Nigerians.
“If anything, Mr. President only succeeded in further demonstrating that his administration is, indeed, in no position to deliver a credible, acceptable and satisfactory independence address.
“This is so because under the Buhari presidency, our nation has experienced the worst form of division, deprivation, human right abuse, constitutional violations, disregard to rule of law, electoral malpractices, disobedience to court order, disrespect for separation of powers and curtailing of press freedom.
“The dearth in foreign direct investment and the inhuman treatments being meted out on our citizens in countries where we were once held in very high esteem, are some of the injuries our nation is suffering under the Buhari administration,” the party said.
WITHIN NIGERIA earlier reported how another Buhari critic, Reno Omokri described the President Independence day’s speech as ‘Untruth”.