PDP To Buhari: We ‘Conceptualized, Financed’ P/Harcourt Airport Terminal

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the Port Harcourt International Airport Terminal which President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned on Thursday in Rivers State is allegedly the invention of its past administration.

President Buhari had during the commissioning said the project is an example of his administration’s “deliberate policy to sustain the development of infrastructure for economic growth in all geo-political zones of the country.”

The President recalled how he “promised to upgrade and develop Nigeria’s transport, power and health infrastructure, and complete a number of stalled infrastructure projects” during his presentation of the country’s 2017 budget.

But reacting to the statement, the opposition party, through its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, accused Buhari of trying to take credit of a project the PDP administration “conceptualized, articulated and financed.”

It said, “President Buhari’s theatrical commissioning of the terminal built by the PDP administration is another failed media stunt to create a false impression that Mr. President is performing, even when he made no contribution whatsoever towards the execution of the project.

“Nigerians were thoroughly amused when President Buhari’s handlers brought him to Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for the first time since his inauguration in 2015, only to orchestrate another failed attempt to claim credit for project executed by others.

“If anything, the Buhari administration, in its incompetence, only succeeded in delaying the completion of the project, which was perfected by the PDP, including payments to contractors.

“It is to say the least appalling that after three and half years, a President, who is seeking reelection, cannot point to any development project, initiated and executed by his administration in any part of our country. Instead, our dear President has been moving around trying to claim credit for projects executed by the PDP, all in a desperate attempt to cover his failures in governance.

“Only recently, President Buhari and his dysfunctional All Progressives Congress (APC), to the chagrin of Nigerians, attempted to claim credit for the Abuja Light Rail Project, even when it was public knowledge that that project was conceptualized and policy-propelled by the PDP.

“We know that President Buhari is eager to stuff up his false performance claims ahead of election, but doing so with the achievements of others is the height of desperation and deceit, which has already become repugnant to majority of Nigerians and the international community.

“The PDP therefore counsels President Buhari’s handlers to use the remaining days of his failed administration to prepare him to get ready to accept his imminent defeat in 2019, as Nigerians have already rallied behind our candidate, Atiku Abubakar, whose performance credential is known to all,” said the party.