Why Lagosians Will Never Accept PDP, By Lagos APC

Source: thewillnigeria.com

SAN FRANCISCO, September 18, (THEWILL) - The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC)  has said the increasing cases of corruption, impunity and illegality the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is allegedly perpetrating and with which it is allegedly denting the image of the country make any suggestion of a PDP challenge for Lagos not feasible.

The party said that having had a responsible, proactive and transparent government  that has yielded innumerable dividends for Nigerians in 16 years, it would be suicidal for Lagosians to desire a party noted only for alleged corruption, stealing through many guises and impunity.

In a statement issued in Lagos and signed by the Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Joe Igbokwe, the party said that the recent arrest of a private jet smuggling $9.3 million by South African authorities and the laughable way the Jonathan Government dabbled to kill the issue shows that PDP is remorselessly committed to stealing resources that would have better the lot of  Nigerians .

APC noted that the recent incident continues to bring shame and disgrace to Nigeria even as PDP continues to perpetrate mind bogging acts of corruption, public stealing, impunity and illegality that continue to worsen the state of the economy.

The party stated: “For some time now, the PDP in Lagos has been hallucinating on taking over power in Lagos. Lagosians that have witnessed responsible governance that has elevated Lagos from the slum President Olusegun Obasanjo described it 13 years ago to Africa's fifth largest economy cannot but wonder what fires PDP's recent optimism if not the wish that somehow it will bring its notorious ability to rig elections in Nigeria to its rich list of vassal territories.

“Since 1999, Nigeria, as the sixth largest producer of oil in the world,  has harvested over N150 trillion from oil alone. This is enough to make every Nigerian rich, as is with the case with every other major oil producing nation on earth. But the reverse is the case in Nigeria, in the hands of the PDP governance of the country. Even as Nigerians pay the highest price for petroleum products among other oil producers, our roads remain the worst. Nigeria has the third largest population of poor people in the world, as over 140 of the estimated 165 million Nigerians live below the poverty level, according to World Bank statistics.”

“Today, Nigeria is ranked by UNICEF as the country with the second highest infant death rate in the world, our medical state is so terrible that our so-called leaders jet to foreign countries to treat catarrh. Our educational system has almost completely gone bankrupt as Nigerian schools hardly make African Top 100 schools, mass failures in WAEC has become the fate of Nigerian educational system under PDP.  The scandalous Nigerian Immigration Services tragedy last March where over 20 unemployed Nigerians were trampled to death when over 1 million applicants turned out for an interview to fill 3,000 applications in the immigrations department. Today, all federal roads in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria are death traps while the Federal Government corners over 52 per cent of the federal statutory allocation each month.”

“We have been witnessing the gradual take over of parts of the country by Boko Haram while the PDP Government forages for whom to blame for its inactions. We have been shocked by recent revelation by an Australian priest and negotiator, Stephen Davies, whom the PDP Government contracted to help deal with the Boko Haram insurgency, as he did with the Niger Delta insurgency. As soon as he tells the truth about the sponsorship of Boko Haram, which links top members of the PDP, in line with the Security Report tendered by the late General Andrew Azazi, the former National Security Adviser, the party had been doing everything to sweep the reports under the carpet because it did not agree with its frenzied attempt to link the APC to the sponsorship of Boko Haram. Do Nigerians wonder why the party is conspiratorially sounding helpless in dealing with Boko Haram whiling increasing the trillion Naira yearly security budgets and now, trying to borrow an additional $1billion to tackle Boko Haram?”

“Have Lagosians asked what happened to the SURE-P; the fund where the hefty N32 increment per litre of petrol carried out by the present PDP government some years ago? During that period when Lagosians trooped out to oppose this inhuman policy of robbing Nigerians to satisfy the unquenchable thirst of PDP overlords for free fund, we remember this same PDP government promised to use the huge inflow from the fund, running into billions of Naira each day to turn Nigeria into a modern wonderland; five Greenfield refineries, millions of jobs as to employ every jobless Nigerian, mass transit buses, such that Nigerians will freely make a choice to which to patronise, railways that will criss-cross  all parts of the country, five Greenfield refineries to end the scourge and scam of fuel importation, superlative roads all over Nigeria, turnaround of our crumbling educational institutions, hospitals, just to mention a few. Several years and trillions of Naira later, do Lagosians ask what happened to the promises as SURE-P has become a slush fund where PDP loyalists make free dip to build their empires of rot and sustain the hoodlums they daily recruit for the purposes of staying put in power and of course to buy rice and salt to bribe Nigerian electorate in 2015?”

“Have Lagosians tried to find the cost of a litre of kerosene today? Kerosene sells for as much as N150 per litre in fuel stations and as much as N200 a litre outside the fuel station while this same corrupt federal corrupt, under the pretext that it is subsidising kerosene, shares out trillions of Naira to its party members and cronies under a phantom kerosene subsidy policy. What about the unending conduit pipe called petroleum subsidy? Do Lagosians wonder why electricity remains elusive despite the fact that the corrupt PDP has handed over the country's energy sector to its collaborators, under a fake privatisation policy? Have they wondered why price of non-existent electricity continues to increase each day? Is this the party you want in Lagos?”

“PDP runs a government of demolition where the massive resources of the country is targeted for looting. This is the reason why nothing had worked in 16 sorrowful years and why there is no sight that anything will work. PDP is now touting the politics of stomach infrastructure which in the main, is all about stealing the nation's wealth and create massive poverty, as we are experiencing in Nigeria today and finally, having the massive poor begging for food in exchange for their votes. This is shameful and speaks of how Nigeria warms the bottom rung of all indexes of development today while PDP and their members blossom.”

“Lagos APC is proud that in 16 years, Lagos has been brought to the status where it is the fifth largest economy in Africa, competing with countries for size. We are proud that through massive investment in security, infrastructures, environmental, health, social and educational services, Lagos has become one of the world's few mega cities, sustaining and pushing the Nigerian economy while the PDP continues to perpetrate such odious acts of corruption, as the present $9.3 million scandal that is making Nigeria the laughing stock in the international community today. We restate that the PDP desires Lagos so as to reduce it to the pitiable level it had reduced Nigeria today. This has made Lagos to become the huge basin where citizens fleeing from PDP states flock for succour despite the limited space we have in Lagos.”

“We urge Lagosians to open their eyes and not fall prey to the evil and destructive gospel of PDP. We urge them to demand from PDP what it had done with governance in 16 years, in comparison to the APC report card. We ask Lagosians to challenge the PDP to show why its government has become one marked for mindboggling corruption which continues to impoverish and destroy Nigeria for the past 16 years.”