Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has described the long-awaited address by President Muhammadu Buhari on the protests rocking the country, as disappointing and completely disconnected from the realities of the tragic occurrences in the country in nearly three weeks.
The party, in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the short broadcast has no correlations between the fundamentals of the crisis situation that we have witnessed and the long-sought reaction of the President.
Ologbondiyan described Buhari’s address to the nation and the world in the face of the turmoil witnessed, the unrests, and the killings of young Nigerians as depressing and failing in the empathy test.
It noted that many Nigerians and the international community should be shocked that the President glossed over the immediate trigger of violent protests – the widely condemned killing at the Lekki Toll Gate by security operatives, a situation which created a global concern and drew the attention of the world to the abuse of human rights going on in our country under his watch.
It pointed out that the President also failed to use the opportunity to further heal wounds and inspire hope by outlining a roadmap to open up the economy in a manner that will enable the teeming hard-working youths to pursue productive goals as well as address the issue of pervading hunger in the land.
The main opposition party said the Commander-in-Chief, was silent on the demand by Nigerians for enquires into the involvement of the military in the gruesome killing and the failure to inspire any hope in tackling the drifting towards anarchy with no provided concrete steps on how to arrest the situation, rein in bandits, hoodlums, and vandals that were let loose to unleash violence on peaceful protesters and innocent Nigerians.
The party further stated that Nigerians had expected that the President will provide the lead for the much- needed overhauling of the nation’s security architecture to meet the demands of professionalism and respect for rules of engagement.
In solidarity with Nigerians and in honour of the victims of the Lekki Toll Gate killing, PDP has directed that the national flags in all its offices across the nation be flown at half-mast for a period of one week, beginning from Friday, October 23rd.
The PDP urges all men and women of good faith to join forces in praying for our country as well as working towards solutions and peaceful resolution of the crisis that seeks to envelop our dear nation.