- By Kamil Opeyemi
The Federal Government on Sunday described as preposterous, the call by governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party on President Bola Tinubu to resign as preposterous.
The government, through the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said in a statement made available to the NPO Reports that the All Progressive Congress-led government has been clearing what he described as the mess created by the 16 years of the PDO administration.
Government said the PDP held sway in Nigeria at a time of windfall but failed to improve the lives of Nigerians.
Accusing PDP governors of abandoning the works for which they were elected to tackle Tinubu, the Minister said it is time for them to do the work for which they were elected.
“The call is nothing but an attempt at distraction by people who should instead be busy supporting the President’s efforts at bringing economic relief to the Nigerian people.
“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,” the minister stated.
The minister said the states have benefited from huge financial support since the inception of the Tinubu administration adding that this is regardless of party affiliations.
“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, prioritizing the equipping and welfare of the military and security agencies, and reclaiming Nigeria’s strategic place in the comity of nations,” he said
The minister added that the Tinubu administration has tackled insecurity noting that Boko Haram and its affiliates have been decimated.
He said it was the APC administration that cleared several liabilities left behind by the PDP government listing 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 as some of the challenges met on ground by the present administration.
” We must continue to state these facts so Nigerians will know where we are coming from, and appreciate what is being done in its full context. President Tinubu is not and will never be overwhelmed by the current challenges the country is facing.
“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.
“He has never shied away from acknowledging the pains of ongoing reforms, and has seized every opportunity to assure Nigerians that inside the pain of the reforms lie the seeds of lasting prosperity and national development,” the minister said
He advised PDP Governors to join hands instead of statements capable of distracting the president.