Presidency reveals major difference between Buhari, PDP govts

It said that the party and its leaders’ ideology was totally different from the current Buhari government that cares for the masses and genuinely going about solving the problems PDP had abandoned for decades.

This was contained in a statement highlighting reasons President Muhammadu Buhari recently visited Lagos State. This comes after a backlash from the PDP where it accused Buhari of attending a book launch in Lagos while terrorists were busy killing Nigerians.

The president was in Lagos on 9th December 2021.

According to the statement signed by Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Buhari was in Lagos to launch a made-in-Nigeria naval defence ship, NNS Oji, and to induct other vital military assets.

The new naval ships were designed by Nigerians and built by Nigeria’s Naval Dockyard, being the largest military vessels ever produced domestically.

In addition, the Presidency also said that the President surveyed and inaugurated a naval helicopter that will join the new vessels in scouting for and countering piracy that impedes security and trade.

Garba Shehu noted that while in Lagos, Buhari also graced the launch of an autobiography by Bisi Akande, who he described as a leader who played a crucial role in keeping democratic opposition to military rule alive, and later a critical place in the development and ultimate unity of that opposition to create today’s APC.

According to Shehu, without visionaries such as Bisi Akande, “the corrupt PDP and its acolytes who have done so much to strip our nation of its wealth, stunt its growth, and subject it to derogation abroad would still be in office.

“But, of course, those in the PDP who have nothing positive or new to add to the debate about the future of the nation seek to trivialise the President’s Lagos visit: they choose to ignore the crucial launch of the naval vessels; they suggest the primary reason for going to Lagos was to attend a book launch.

“They try to make further mileage by claiming the President should not have attended given the attack by bandits elsewhere in the country that same day.

“Should the president not have launched the naval ships the day after that attack? Should he listen to the PDP who feign concern for those affected by banditry when they did nothing to combat it for decades – not on land or at sea? Should our famously austere President not attend a book launch of his friend and fellow democratic opposition veteran when it coincided with a visit to Lagos to tend the affairs of state?

“Through their attacks, the PDP reveal their priorities. Of course, for decades, as the PDP enjoyed their decadent parties at others’ expense, the navy and the armed forces rotted through negligence.

“It is noted they have not criticised the President for boosting the country’s seaborne defence capacity. Instead, they only manage to make the attack personal. It reveals the chasm of difference between a president who cares for the country while managing to show courtesy to his comrades – and the opposition who corrupted the country through the sharing out of its wealth while celebrating and splashing about stolen public money.

“Sadly, these opportunistic opposition elements, in a desperate search for political points, have dragged respected religious leaders into the discussion, feeding them misleading information who have in turn used this distorted picture to blackpaint the President in the eyes of gullible and innocent members of the public. “