PDP Slams Buhari Over Migrants Comment

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has tackled President Muhammadu Buhari over comments that Nigerians caught in their attempt to illegally enter Europe, are on their own.

Buhari was speaking at a joint press conference with the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, who was in Nigeria on Friday.

The PDP said Buhari’s comments further exposes him as an insensitive leader, who cares less about the plight of his compatriots.

The main opposition in a statement on Saturday in Abuja said while the PDP does not, in any way, support illegal migrations, “our party holds that such does not warrant incendiary statement against our citizens by no less a person than the President, who should be seeking for ways to solve the problem.”

The statement signed by Kola Ologbondiyan, National Publicity Secretary, notes that such statements by the president against Nigerians fuel violent attacks and inhuman treatment being meted out against Nigerians abroad, including those with legitimate documents and engaged in lawful activities.

The party said that President Buhari has shown that he is not bothered that no fewer than 10,000 Nigerians died in the deserts between January to May 2017 alone, while trying to escape the economic hardship and escalated insecurity occasioned by his misrule.

“Is it not disturbing to Mr President that reports by Nigerian Immigration Services showed that many more Nigerians have been trapped in detention and slave camps in various parts of the world?

“We ask: Is it not an act of gross leadership failure that, in his outburst against Nigerians, President Buhari admitted that they left in search of “greener pastures”, yet he could not articulate any solution to mitigate the suffering his administration has unleashed on our nation in the last three years?

“Mr. President knows he is the cause of the problem, yet he has no words of assurances for suffering Nigerians. Instead, he has continued to worsen the situation with unsavory statements against our nation and her citizens whenever he is before an international audience,” the statement reads.

According to the party, it is the duty of the president, as elected leader of government, to pursue the fundamental human rights of his citizens, as well as find solution to the problems that is pushing Nigerians to adopt illegal migration, irrespective of the huge risks, as option for survival.

It further argued that “if the Buhari administration and the APC did not wreck our once robust economy, Nigerians would not be seeking for greener pastures in other lands.

“Furthermore, the PDP laments that in further exhibition of incompetence, President Buhari could not articulate any strong response to the economic proposals brought by the German leader, thereby squandering, again, our nation’s opportunity of benefiting from her visit.”