The Federal Government, on Sunday, clapped back at the governors elected on the platform of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party for asking President Bola Tinubu to resign from office if he had no answer to the nation’s myriad problems.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, questioned why the PDP failed to turn the country around during its extended shot at power.
He described the PDP governor’s resignation call as a distraction.
The PDP governors, under the leadership of the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, had last week said Nigeria under Tinubu was on the path to becoming like Venezuela.
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On Saturday, the PDP governors advised Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress to resign over the state of the nation if they could not provide sustainable solutions.
But responding on Sunday, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, in a statement signed by his media aide, Rabiu Ibrahim, knocked the PDP governors.
He said, “It is our considered view that the PDP and its governors should not be seeking, through the back door of intimidation, what they have consistently failed to achieve by democratic means, since 2015.
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“Those who could not bring transformational change when they had a lengthy chance to, should not seek to interrupt or distract those who are busy at work on the presidential vision that Nigerians elected them to implement.”
Explaining what the present administration was currently working on, the minister explained, “The administration of President Bola Tinubu has, since inception, generously extended financial support to all the state governments, regardless of partisan affiliation. In addition, the removal of the petrol subsidy —which, incidentally, was one of the main planks of the PDP presidential campaign—has swelled the revenues of all states, including the PDP states. To whom more has been given, more is therefore expected.
“The President and his administration recognise the unfinished business of revamping our national economy kickstarted by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, through programmes focused on large-scale infrastructure, social welfare, prioritising the equipping and welfare of the military and security agencies, and reclaiming Nigeria’s strategic place in the comity of nations.
“Boko Haram and its affiliates, on the ascendancy in 2014/2015, have since been decimated, and similar bold gains are now being made with bandits and other criminals.
“Nigerians have not forgotten that it was the APC administration that cleared several liabilities left behind by the PDP government, such as subsidy claims by oil marketers, Paris Club refunds, unpaid pensions, gratuities, and salary arrears owed various categories of pensioners from liquidated and existing state-owned enterprises.”
Idris said Tinubu would never be overwhelmed by the current challenges facing the country.
“He will not abdicate his responsibilities. He will courageously continue to wrestle with the challenges and surmount them, laying a durable foundation for the new Nigeria that is emerging,” the minister.