Terrorists sharing sovereignty with Nigeria, Ayu laments

*Warns APC to begin preparing hand over note

Tunde Opalana, Abuja

National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP Dr. Iyochia Ayu on Friday lamented the dangerous drifting of Nigeria towards a failed state as terrorists share sovereignty with the nation.

He said “Nigeria is simply ungoverned. Nigeria is collapsing under the leadership of a retired general!”.

Renewing quit notice to the APC, Ayu said, “begin to prepare your handover notes”.

He spoke after taking oath of office and oath of allegiance alongside 20 other members of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) during an elaborate handing over ceremony held at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.

Ayu reeled out identified ineptitude of the APC administration which he called the grim legacy of the APC.

According to him, failures of the APC government include “two economic recessions in six years. A sluggish GDP growth rate of below two percent. About 40 million Nigerians have been pushed into extreme poverty in six years. Inflation is at an all-time high at 18%.

“A weak and devalued Naira; devalued by over 300% since 2015, has made our currency the worst in Africa.

“Unemployment now stands at 33%. Meaning: Close to 40 million Nigerians, willing and able to work, can’t find jobs.

“Today, Nigerians have seen the limit of propaganda and demagoguery. The only thing the APC is doing successfully is irresponsible borrowing.

“A total debt stock of over $90 billion now hangs over Nigeria. An erratic exchange rate regime has depleted N324 against the US Dollar in the last six years.

“From the biggest economy in 2015, the APC has given the country two recessions and turned Nigeria into the Poverty Capital of the world. Today, close to 40 million Nigerians have no jobs.

“Kidnapping for ransom is now big business. We share sovereignty with terrorists who kidnap and rape our women, including our mothers and under-aged children. The terrorists even kill them when ransom is delayed.

“In the last six years, the APC-led government has mismanaged our diversity; divided the country along regional and religious lines. It has exacerbated religious tensions in the country.

“And through its marriage to nepotism, the incompetent APC- Federal Government is fueling secessionist agitations in the East and West of Nigeria”.

These, he said , are not political alarms, but statements of facts.

In his inaugural speech titled ‘Let us rescue and rebuild Nigeria’, the former Senate President said the PDP is the only organic political party in Nigeria that has remained a credible, tested, tasted and trusted mass movement since the return of democracy in 1999, adding that other political parties have either fizzled away or merged with others.

The PDP, he said, has a history of performance and legacy achievements.

” In our 16 years in power, we not only gave Nigerians good governance, we also strengthened democratic institutions so as to add value to the people.

In an unprecedented move, we stabilized our democracy by sanitizing the armed forces of politically exposed officers.

“We gave Nigeria her first-ever successful transition from one civilian administration to another in 2007. To the disbelief of all watchers of African politics, we willingly conceded defeat in 2015, and handed over power to an opposition party in 2015.

“It was the PDP-Federal Government that created value-adding public institutions like the EFCC, ICPC, NAFDAC, the Debt Management Office (DMO), the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) among many others.

“The PDP administration also strengthened the governance process by enacting laws to effectively drive public administration in Nigeria, namely: the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the Mid-Term Expenditure Frame-Work, the Treasury Single Account (TSA), Integrated Personal and Payroll Information Systems (IPPIS) just to mention a few.

“We negotiated and obtained forgiveness of over $30 Billion of debt, making Nigeria almost a debt-free country. Foreign direct investments flowed in.

Cumulatively, the foregoing made Nigeria, not only the fastest growing economy in Africa, but also the biggest economy on the continent”, he stated..

He said PDP under his leadership will stick to the core values and vision which are centred around the people and their well-being.

Assuring Nigerians of the readiness of the PDP to rescue and rebuild Nigeria through assiduousness of the newly inaugurated NWC.

He said “I stand here to assure you that PDP is back to Rescue and Rebuild Nigeria. Under the new NWC, PDP will strengthen its internal democratic processes. We shall endeavour to reach out to all party members, young and old, male and female.

“This National Working Committee will create alternate platforms within the Party to actively engage the young people and our women, not only for mobilizing and winning elections, but for advocacy, policy formulation and the design of a new development agenda for the Party.

“We shall return the party to vigorous discussions; pay serious attention to new thinking and the implementation of policies and programmes that will secure and improve the quality of life of all Nigerians.

“A PDP administration will change the narrative. We will unite the people. We will deepen the content of our democracy.

We will rebuild our collapsed economy. We will make Nigerians the focus of development. We will expand our international vision beyond Niger Republic.

We will check the rampaging insecurity. We will restore Nigeria’s lost glory. And we will reclaim our dignity, destiny and pride as the Giant of Africa.

“To Africa and the international community – we know you are worried about Nigeria. But we assure you that PDP will pull back Nigeria from the brink. PDP will not allow Nigeria to fulfil those doomsday predictions”

The chairman of the PDP National Convention Organising Committee and governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Fintiri commended and congratulated members for the successful completion of the October 31 national convention of the party.

The new NWC members were sworn in by former Legal Adviser of PDP, Emmanuel Enoidem.

In attendance were former Vice President, Arch Nnamadi Sambo who stood in for his boss, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, PDP state governors, serving and former National Assembly members and other stakeholders.