PDP govt wrecked Nigeria's economy for personal gain -Buhari

President Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday knocked the immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration for wrecking the economy for “personal gain”.

He repudiated the party’s claim that he is “demarketing” Nigeria with his public speeches on corruption by former public officials, saying he won’t lie to cover up the truth.

“Nigerians will hear only the truth on the economy and the state of the nation from President Muhammadu Buhari”, the Presidency said last night.

It alleged that the Jonathan-led PDP government lied to Nigerians on the state of the economy which was found to be in dire straits contrary to that government’s claims.

“President Buhari will remain true to the virtues of honesty, integrity, sincerity, incorruptibility and plain-speaking which endeared him to Nigerians and made them prefer his leadership to that of a lying and deceptive PDP administration.

“The President will not, in the guise of ‘marketing’ the country, refrain from telling Nigerians and the world, the emerging truths about the abject state in which years of plundering by a PDP leadership has left the Nigerian treasury and economy.

“President Buhari will not in the name of ‘marketing’ or ‘attracting’ investors, follow in the footsteps of the ousted PDP Administration and its discredited officials who shamelessly lied to Nigerians and the world about the buoyancy and vibrancy of an economy they had bled dry for personal gain, when it was very obvious to the discerning, that the Nigerian economy was headed for serious trouble,” Presidential Spokesman Femi Adesina, said in a statement.

The Presidency condemned PDP spokesman Olisa Metuh’s statement that the President has been “demarketing Nigeria “with his public stance on corruption.

“We restate for the umpteenth time to Mr. Metuh and his ilk that their attempts to distract President Buhari from the job he has been elected to do will fail,” the Presidency said, adding: “It is  most unfortunate that instead of showing some remorsefulness for the harm done to the nation by his party, and giving genuine support for President Buhari’s efforts to salvage and revamp the national economy, Mr. Metuh persisted in a vain attempt to remain relevant on the national stage by unjustly denigrating the President who continued to strive with all his might to alleviate and reverse the harm done to the nation by PDP misrule and corruption.”

Mr. Metuh’s antics, the statement said, were futile.

“President Buhari cannot be distracted by a broken record. If the PDP spokesman ever has serious matters to bring to our attention, we will be prepared to listen,” it stated

In his party’s statement Metuh claimed that recent statements on the state of the economy credited to President Buhari were capable of harming Nigeria’s image.

PDP observed that instead of making efforts to harness resources and grow the economy, Buhari has continued to scare away investors.

According to the opposition, the President has continued to apply himself perhaps unwittingly, to demarketing the nation through negative labelling of Nigerians and unwarranted unhealthy portrayal of the economy.

The party added that the President’s “unwary statements” have become very serious clogs in the wheel of progress, eroding the confidence of both domestic and international investors in Nigeria’s socio-economic system.

The statement reads: “It is worrisome that in the last six months, the President, instead of making efforts to harness resources and grow the economy, has rather continued to apply himself, perhaps unwittingly, to demarketing the nation and scaring away investors through negative labeling of Nigerians and unwarranted unhealthy portrayal of the nation’s economy.

“In the last six months, our President has only succeeded in discouraging foreign investors with his continued misrepresentation of our country as a business unfriendly environment, where most of the citizens are basically corrupt, dishonest, and cannot be trusted.

“Whereas we have restated our total support for the war against corruption, we insist that Mr. President’s unceasing blanket negative labelling of citizens, in a country where millions of honest and hardworking individuals/firms are genuinely contributing daily to the development effort, is indeed a disservice and injurious to the nation and the people.

“Furthermore, Mr. President’s recent announcement to the world that the nation, with its abundant human and natural resources, is broke and cannot pay cabinet ministers not only sends a discouraging signal to the domestic and international business community, but also exposes the ineptitude of the present administration to meaningfully and sincerely exert itself and work with industrious and innovative investors to create and manage wealth.

“We ask; how can any reasonable investor still have the confidence to invest in a country where the President himself continues to alert that his country reeks of corrupt people and that the government is broke to the extent it cannot pay cabinet ministers?

“Is the President not directly advising investors against having confidence in Nigeria and the system, and that they risk not being paid for jobs awarded by government at any level?”