Jega while speaking in an interview with BBC Hausa recently, asked Nigerians not to trust the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on the reform they have continuously promised. He asked Nigerians to consider another alternative while alleging that all those who are said to be thieves and would be punished because they stole under PDP, defected to the APC and nothing happened to them. Read here.

Reacting to Jega’s claim, the PDP in a statement released by its spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, cautioned the former INEC chairman not to further infuriate Nigerians by trying to ”dry-clean the rudderless, inept and debauched All Progressives Congress (APC), despite the unbearable devastation the APC has brought to our nation in a space of six years”.

The PDP said that trying to compare the ”incompetent and decadent” APC to the ”highly productive and development-oriented PDP is an unpardonable disservice to our nation and calls to question the sense of judgment of Profession Jega.”

The statement reads “The PDP further holds as worrisome that Prof. Jega, who only recently and rightly so, described the APC and the Buhari administration as a failure, is now attempting an image laundering with such a warped comparison, just a few weeks after he was offered a juicy appointment as Chairman of Governing Council of University of Jos by President Buhari. It is indeed unfortunate that Prof. Jega, as a professor of political science, could portray an ignorance of the manifest contrasts between the robust fortunes of our nation under the PDP and the wasteland she has become under the APC. Perhaps the Professor needs to be reminded of how the PDP worked hard to revamp our nation’s economy, paid off our huge foreign debts and went ahead to grow the economy to become the largest investment hub in Africa as well as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with Fitch B+ rating; only for the APC to wreck the economy and turned our nation into the world poverty capital and a debtor country in a space of six years. Prof. Jega must also be reminded how the PDP reinvigorated the private sector with new businesses and employments springing up in critical sectors of telecoms, aviation, agriculture, manufacturing, oil and gas, education, retailing, hospitality, healthcare and banking among others. Today, under the APC and Buhari, these gains have been wrecked with massive closure of businesses, which saw over 60 million Nigerians losing their means of livelihood, with alarming 33.3 percent unemployment rate and over 82.9 million more and about 25 million families not being able to afford their daily meals as our country ranks 98th out of 107 in Global Hunger Index, due to the obnoxious policies of the APC and President Buhari. Perhaps the former INEC chairman has forgotten how the PDP stabilized our fiscal economy and handed over our naira to the APC at N160 to a dollar only for the APC to wreck our currency to a dismal N510 to a dollar. He may have also forgotten how the PDP handed over the cost of fuel at N87 per liter and how the APC has hiked it to N165 per liter with attendant pressure on our economy. We invite Professor Jega to note how the PDP ran an all-inclusive and transparent administration that guaranteed freedom of speech, equity, fairness as well as free and fair elections, which he attested to; and how the APC, had been running a massively corrupt, insensitive, divisive and exclusionist administration that has destroyed our national cohesion and turned our nation into a battle field. As professor of political science, Prof. Jega ought to know that while the PDP is an ideologically based political party, the APC is just a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) operated on the basis of deception and that is why it has failed in all ramification and now fizzled in the eyes of the law. Nigerians are already confronting the fact of the failures of the APC as well as President Buhari and would therefore not require a manipulative tendency of any individual seeking political relevance ahead of 2023. After all, the roles which Prof Jega played in bringing this failed party and administration into office are still fresh in the hearts of Nigerians”

Buhari also said secessionists were too young to know the loss of lives and other tragedies that attended the Nigerian civil war of 1967 to 1970.

But the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, in its reaction, advised the President to stop issuing threat and act decisively to end insecurity in the country.

The PDP in its reaction to the  President’s statement asked him to match his words with actions and lead the fight against insecurity from the front.

National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan said, “On the issue of security, the expectation of Nigerians is that Mr President should lead the battle against insecurity from the front like he promised during his electioneering. But the inactions of Mr President today are responsible for the deluge of insecurity that has affected our nation. The expectation of Nigerians furthermore, is that these challenges should not be limited to the issues of lip talk; rather, they should be confronted so that Nigerians can sleep with their two eyes closed.”

In a statement released by its spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party argued that the withdrawal of the police from the Rivers Task Force amounted to politicizing the efforts to check the spread of COVID-19 in our country.

The statement read ‘” Our party acknowledges the efforts of Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike, as well as those of other state governors elected on the platform of the PDP to flatten the curve in their respective states even without commensurate support from the Federal Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari. It is our opinion that the order to withdraw security personnel from the task force of Rivers State, or any other state for that matter, is counterproductive and against the overall interest of our nation in this fight against COVID-19. Our party, therefore, urges the Inspector General of Police to reverse the directive and support efforts by Governor Wike to check the pandemic in Rivers state, particularly as the state is strategic to the economic stability of our nation.”