Buhari Slammed For Calling Abuja Residents ‘Necessary Evil’

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has taken offense at a joke cracked by President Muhammadu Buhari where he described residents of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, as “necessary evil”.

Buhari had while receiving a delegation of National Assembly members, religious leaders, among others, at the State House on Tuesday promised not to persecute the residents of Abuja for rejecting him and voting Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the PDP during the February 23 presidential election.

“I have just spoken to the Senator (Philip Aduda) on my left and I told him that his constituency (Abuja) did not vote for me. So, I was very pleased that when they made the arrangement, they put him very far away from me. I have all the results of all constituencies,” the President had said jokingly.

He added, “I am not threatening FCT because to make FCT secure is to make myself secure and the Vice-President. I think they know that they are necessary evil, that was why they decided to vote for  the PDP.”

But reacting to Buhari’s joke, the PDP asked the President to apologise to resident’s of the federal capital over his remarks.

The opposition party said, “such resort to branding of Nigerians for rightly exercising their rights is completely unpresidential and must be condemned by all.”

Reacting through its national spokesperson, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said Buhari’s statement was “was inciting, divisive and capable of demonizing innocent compatriots and setting them up for victimization by overzealous agencies.

The statement further reads, “President Buhari should note that he was not only rejected by FCT residents but also by an overwhelming majority of Nigerians across the states of the federation, who voted massively for the PDP, only for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to subvert the will of the people in his favour; consequent upon which our party and presidential candidate have headed for the retrieval of this stolen mandate at the tribunal.

“Furthermore, the PDP criticized President Buhari for stating that “to make FCT secure is to make myself secure and the Vice President”.

“The party holds that it is the duty of the President to provide security for all parts of the country, irrespective of where he and the Vice President reside or how Nigerians cast their votes.

“The PDP maintains that the security of lives of all Nigerians, ought to have been paramount to the President and not determined by inessential factors, if indeed he has the interest of the people at heart.

“The PDP therefore calls on President Buhari to apologize to Nigerians for this divisive comment.

“The party also urges Nigerians to continue in their determination to retrieve the stolen Presidential mandate at the tribunal, so as to have an administration that truly cares for the citizens, in line with the provisions of our laws.”