PDP launches an attack on Buhari over Zamfara state election that was canceled

President Muhammadu Buhari has been attacked by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for canceling a planned visit to Zamfara State, which is besieged by bandits.

The main opposition party dismissed the excuse of bad weather for the trip’s cancellation on Thursday, claiming that if President Buhari truly cared, he could have traveled by road from Sokoto to Gusau.

Hon. Debo Ologunagba, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, made the announcement in a statement.

“We ask, did Mr. President cancel his trip to Zamfara State because of terrorists?” it said. Was Mr. President, an Army General in charge of all security apparatus, afraid to travel by road because he was concerned about his safety and the deterioration of our roads while he was in charge?

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“The distance between Sokoto and Gusau, the capital of Zamfara State, is about 206 kilometers, a journey that a leader who cares about the people and is confident in his security could make by road.

“Rather than traveling to Gusau to reassure Nigerians, President Buhari opted for a video broadcast in which he promised the state’s troubled people that he “looks forward to a more weather-friendly period when I will visit.”

“This is yet another sad example of President Buhari leading from behind, despite his promise to Nigerians that he would lead from the front in the fight against terrorism.”

The cancellation of the trip, according to the PDP, is yet another example of the administration’s ineptness, which it claims has always played the blame game.

“Such a governance attitude speaks volumes about why our nation is in such a shambles under the Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration, which is largely laidback, unconcerned, and corrupt,” the party added.

“If the people truly matter to Mr President and his party, the APC; if President Buhari and the APC truly believe in Nigerians and feel their pains; if truly they are concerned about the well-being of the people, then Mr President would have visited and empathized with the people of Zamfara State, who are daily traumatized by terrorists, with all the apparatus of power at his disposal.”

“Our Party is not surprised because this is a Party and a President who are never present in critical areas of our national life.” The APC is known for its responsibility-related absenteeism. Even when pressed to visit such places, President Buhari will always make excuses, play the blame game, and pass the buck.

“Nigerians will never forget the tragic episode of the Agatu Massacre in Benue State, when President Muhammadu Buhari told a befuddled nation on March 12, 2018, that he was unaware that the Inspector General of Police was not in the area as he had directed.

“In the words of Mr. President, ‘I’m not aware that the Inspector General did not spend 24 hours in the state as directed by me,’ which I am learning in this meeting.’ This was a dreadful display of leadership renunciation.

“Indeed, such a reliance on proxies for leadership is inexcusable and completely unacceptable.” Our country requires active, people-oriented, humane, functional, and result-driven leadership, which the APC, as a party of propaganda, deception, and lies, is incapable of providing.”

The PDP expressed its sympathies with the people of Zamfara state, who were “forced to waste their meager resources to organize for a Presidential visit only to be subjected to an embarrassing and uninspiring video broadcast.”

It urged Nigerians not to despair, but to rally around the PDP’s platform “to rescue and rebuild the country from the stranglehold of misrule.”

“Help is on the way from the PDP, come 2023,” the PDP said, urging citizens to keep hope alive.