APC, PDP differ over Buhari’s comment on illegal immigrants

The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have expressed divergent views over the comment of President Muhammadu Buhari on illegal migrants.

While the APC said that the President Buhari-led administration is committed to mitigating the migration crisis Nigerians are facing, particularly in Libya and in the Mediterranean Sea, the PDP insists that Buhari’s comment is insensitive.

Reacting to the PDP’s comment on the issue, the APC in a statement made available in Abuja on Sunday by its acting National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, condemned attempts by the opposition party to politicize Buhari’s statement on illegal migration and trafficking of Nigerians during the recent visit of the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel to Nigeria.

Nabena said , “The PDP in its typical insensitive and unguarded stance on matters affecting the country is exploiting an issue that borders on the lives of Nigerians, mostly youth.

“It is a known fact that many Nigerian families have suffered grief as a result of deaths and other inhuman treatment that have befallen relatives attempting migration to Europe and other parts of the world.

“Through support of international agreements and efforts towards curbing illegal migration, repatriation of stranded Nigerian migrants and addressing root causes encouraging illegal migration of Nigerians, the President Buhari administration has demonstrated the political will to check the scourge.”

The APC spokesman stated that the pains and sufferings most Nigerians go through with the hope of reaching Europe had been well reported through relevant agencies.

He recalled the presidential directive for Nigerians to be evacuated from Libya and other locations and be returned home safely, adding that the administration had already put in place several interventionist programmes to enable such persons start new and productive lives in the country.

Nabena said that with unemployment and poverty identified as one of the root causes of illegal migration, the President Buhari administration was using initiatives to check the ugly trend.

He listed the initiatives as N-Power, Bank of Industry Youth Entrepreneurship Support, Central Bank of Nigeria support schemes, promoting agriculture, and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) to reduce the rate of unemployment in the country.

But, the PDP disagrees with the APC’s posture, describing as insensitive, President Buhari’s statement that Nigerians caught up in their attempt to illegally enter Europe, are on their own.

Speaking through its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP argued that the comment has further exposed the President as an insensitive leader, who cares less about the plights of his compatriots.

Ologbondiyan said that “while the PDP does not in any way support illegal migrations, our party holds that such does not warrant incendiary statement against our citizens by no less a person than the President, who should be seeking for ways to solve the problem.

“The PDP notes that such statements by our President against Nigerians fuels violent attacks and inhuman treatment being meted out against our citizens abroad, including those with legitimate documents and engaged in lawful activities”.

The party added that President Buhari has shown that he is not bothered that no fewer than 10, 000 Nigerians died in the deserts between January to May 2017 alone, while trying to escape the economic hardship and escalated insecurity occasioned by his misrule.

“Is it not disturbing to Mr. President that reports by Nigerian Immigration Services showed that many more Nigerians have been trapped in detention and slave camps in various parts of the world?

“Also, is it not an act of gross leadership failure that, in his outburst against Nigerians, President Buhari admitted that they left in search of greener pastures, yet he could not articulate any solution to mitigate the suffering his administration has unleashed on our nation in the last three years?

“Mr. President knows he is the cause of the problem, yet he has no words of assurances for suffering Nigerians. Instead, he has continued to worsen the situation with unsavoury statements against our nation and her citizens whenever he is before an international audience.

“If President Buhari is not condemning our youth as lazy and lovers of freebies, he is disparaging our women as inconsequential or de-marketing our nation to investors as corrupt,” said the PDP.

The party added that it is the duty of the President, as elected leader of government, to pursue the fundamental human rights of his citizens, as well as find solutions to the problems that is pushing Nigerians to adopt illegal migration, irrespective of the huge risks, as option for survival.

The party argued that if the Buhari administration and the APC had not wrecked Nigeria’s once robust economy, Nigerians would not be seeking for greener pastures in other lands.

It lamented that in another exhibition of incompetence, President Buhari could not articulate any strong response to the economic proposals brought by the German leader, thereby squandering our nation’s opportunity of benefiting from her visit.