Presidency, PDP trade words over alleged plot to topple Buhari’s administration

Tunde Opalana And Kamarudeen Ogundele, Abuja

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the allegation by the Buhari Presidency that some Nigerians were plotting a forceful and undemocratic change of leadership, as a resort to blackmail in the face of failure.

The PDP said that rather than live up to the responsibilities of office by taking charge and securing our nation, the Presidency is busy engaging in frivolous allegations against Nigerians.

The PDP was reacting to the claim by the presidency which alleged plots by religious leaders and past political leaders in plotting to destabilise the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity) in a statement issued on Tuesday accused unnamed religious leaders and past political leaders of planning to wreak havoc on the nation’s sovereignty and the corporate existence of the country.

Part of their plots, the presidency stated, includes a plan to convene an illegal national conference where a vote of no confidence would be passed on Buhari with a view to overthrowing his government.

The presidency noted that the warning followed an alert that emanated from the Department of State Services (DSS).

It said working with foreign intereds, the disgruntled elements are trying to achieve what they could not during the last election and warned them that their action would be considered as treasonable.

Buhari absent from duty, we’re taking note of constitutional breeches, N’Assembly minority caucus

Taking stock of the state of the nation, the minority parties caucus in both chambers of the National Assembly Tuesday categorically declared President Muhammadu Buhari absent from duty as president of the country.

Members of the ,opposition parties rose from an emergency meeting at the National Assembly to condemned the All Progressives Congress (APC) led government’s ineptitude and inability to arrest the drifting of the country into anarchy.

The APC government was said to have betrayed all pre – 2015 election promises made to Nigerians particularly on issues of security.

The caucus said it is unfortunate that rather than solving the security problems met on ground as promised, the APC administration has since 2015 broadened it to the extent that every section of the country now is beset with one security challenges or the other.

Leader of the caucus and Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who address the press, said the meeting looked at national issues such as security challenges, constitutional reforms and suggested away forward to the Buhari government.

Abaribe said “the Minority Caucus of the National Assembly expresses very strong concern about the ineptitude and the inability of the APC-led government to arrest the drift to anarchy of our nation at this time.

“This APC -led government, at inception and during campaigns prior to 2015 elections, made promises to the Nigerian public, the first of which was that they were going to deal with security challenges within their tenure.

“Sadly and most unfortunately, from 2015 to date, rather than resolving the security situation, the APC-led federal government had rather broaden the security challenges.

“So, from the problems of the northeast, it has spread to other parts of the country. Virtually all parts of Nigeria is now beset with one security challenge or the other.

“We, therefore as a caucus, suggest that immediate steps should be taken by governments at all levels to set up proper security infrastructure whether in the mode of state police and other constitutional reforms to arrest the drift of the nation.

“The caucus also expresses strong reservations about the economic strategy of the government which has culminated into what is called quantitative easing, which the ordinary man knows as printing money.

“We feel that this strategy has led us to the very high inflation that we have today, devaluation of our Naira to the height that we never expected and has also concomitantly brought out unemployment and has led the government to contemplate, as we see today, to raise the price of fuel, electricity tarrif and all manners of charges on the helpless Nigerians.

“We think that the government should reverse itself and should not continue in its mindless borrowing without seeing any benefits that are coming from it.

“The caucus has also taken note of the fact that the President is absent from duty.

We have not seen our president. We have not heard from our president despite the daily killings that have turned Nigeria into a killing field of unimaginable proportions.

“Therefore, the caucus has taken note and will continue to take note of the constitutional breaches that is happening at this time by the government of the APC and will at the appropriate time utilize all constitutional methods and measures available after consultations with our colleagues to do the needful to safe the country from collapse.

“We also, as a caucus, want to put on notice to all Nigerians and the international community about the threats to the lives of our members, to those who come out to say things that are true about the state of Nigeria today, and this threats have come in various forms, including threat to life.

“We call on the APC government that they were let and free to go around and say what they wanted, express themselves and were able to even do a march, a demonstration led by the president himself.

And so, this discent into stifling democracy was not what we envisaged when Nigerians fought for a democratic government.

“So, we condemn this attempt at holding everybody down and trying to shut us up and make sure that nobody says because they think by doing so, problems of the country will disappear. We say that problems of the country will not disappear.

“This is a time that needs the president to come out and take charge of his government and take us all away from problems we are seeing today.

“We, as a caucus, are opposed to the continued superintendent of the NIN registration by someone whom the country has lost confidence in.

And we ask the government to go ahead and summon the courage to do the needful that when people lose confidence in a member of this government, that person should either quit or be fired”.

Charging Nigerians not to be despair but use the instrument of the votes to reject APC come 2023, Abaribe said “we should not lose hope in the country, but we should do everything possible to able to get rid of this APC-led government when the time for elections comes”.