‘You Have Betrayed Almajiris After Using Them To Get Power’ – PDP Tells Buhari, APC

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari and his party have been accused of using and dumping Almajiris.

The Peoples Democratic Party has accused President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress of betraying Almajirai and Nigeria’s poor and vulnerable after using them to grab power in 2015.

The claim was made on Monday in Abuja by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbodiyan, said this in a statement in Abuja, on Monday.

The party noted that the APC and its regime had continued to show their true colours especially as manifested in the neglect and dehumanising treatment they had meted out to poor and vulnerable Nigerians since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The statement read in part, “The PDP notes that APC’s disdain and desertion of our citizens had further exposed it as a deceitful party which used lies, propaganda and false promises to mislead the people in 2015 to denounce a system of governance which had their interest at heart and worked day and night to ensure a better life for them.

“Today, the APC and its government have succeeded in wrecking the lives of ordinary Nigerians; stolen their common patrimony; rendered many homeless, turned their joy into sadness, hope into hopelessness, fortune into abject poverty; reneged on all their enticing promises, swindled and abandoned our citizens to a life of misery.

“From Katsina to Lagos, Kano to Edo, Kaduna to Osun, Yobe to Ekiti; Plateau to Kogi and all the places where the APC has left footprints at the federal and state levels, the downtrodden people have been exploited and now abandoned; treated by the APC as sub-humans in their own country.”

It also accused APC leaders of taking delight in insulting Nigerian youths who they denied job opportunities calling them lazy and unemployable.

Ologbodiyan noted that the same APC derided the then PDP administration which took the initiative towards solving the almajirai problem once and for all.

He further said, “Unfortunately, what we witness today are total reneging on these promises, degradation of citizens, hunger and starvation, intimidation of dissenting voices, untold corruption, neglect of our infrastructure, annexation of electoral and judicial system, violation of human rights, in addition to escalation of insurgency and bloodletting while the President, who promised to lead from the front, recedes very far into the luxury and safety of Aso Presidential villa.

“Nigerians can recall how the PDP championed the cause of the downtrodden, established Almajirai schools, the e-wallet initiatives for rural farmers, built new universities, revamped our economy, overhauled our health care system, established the National Health Insurance Scheme, revamped the mortgage system to give Nigerians access to own homes and expanded the political space to promote youth and women participation in governance, among others.”

The PDP accused the APC of reversing all those gains within a five year period. It maintained that the COVID-19 pandemic had further exposed the APC as a party without plans for Nigerians, which only came to grab power to enrich themselves at the expense of ordinary Nigerians.

The party urged Nigerians not to despair, but to rally among themselves, help each other and ensure that a party like APC, did not come to power at any level after the end of this tenure.

“On our own part, the PDP as a party, will continue to stand with Nigerians, especially the downtrodden and remain committed to protecting their interests at all times,” the statement added.

In response, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu said, “The baseless accusations of the PDP have become familiar. However, let them know that the almajirai system is not an APC policy, he should talk to the states.”