Presidency Replies PDP Over Claim On Buhari’s Planned London Trip

The Presidency, on Thursday, faulted the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over its claim that President Muhammadu Buhari’s scheduled trip to London on Friday was to exonerate him from a planned invasion of the Senate by his loyalists.

Recall that President Buhari had on Wednesday written the leadership of National Assembly informing them of his scheduled 10 working days visit to London for vacation.

Reacting to the announcement on Thursday, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) claimed that the President’s’s “two-week vacation in London was designed as an alibi to exonerate him from planned political illegalities, forceful invasion and mayhem about to be visited on the polity and particularly, the National Assembly.”

The opposition party said it was “aware of plots already perfected in a meeting, on Wednesday night, between the the President and some compromised All Progressives Congress (APC) senators, who are now in the minority, to forcefully reconvene the Senate with protection from security agencies, with a view to impeach the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki.

“We know that the desperation to illegally take control of the National Assembly is part of the design to undermine our democratic institutions and completely foist a dictatorial regime on our nation,” the PDP added.

But reacting to the opposition party’s claims, the Presidency, in a statement by President Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said: “Claims by the failing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that President Muhammadu Buhari had taken a 10-day leave in order to leave the stage for illegal and unconstitutional actions by the administration are both ridiculous and a hollow narrative to garner cheap sympathy.

“That the President, himself a sworn democrat had handed power to his deputy without compulsion is itself exemplary and innovative, something that the PDP failed to produce in their sixteen years of monumental mismanagement and sadistic plunder.

“For the benefit of the doubters, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, the Vice President who acts in the absence of the President is a lawyer of the highest rank and a social rights crusader who had received local and international acclaim before he took the present office.

“It is inconceivable that this is the team to copy the bad manners cast in stone in the PDP.

“We welcome objective criticism and take them seriously and humbly, but Nigerians must by now be tired of a party, the stock in trade of which is to cry wolf where there is none, ostensibly to spread negativity and distract the President’s attention from the cleansing operations he has been mandated to carry out.

“The President is carrying out difficult reforms for the future growth of the country, such as the implementation of the ease of doing business, the Treasury Single Account, TSA, the whistleblower process, and hundreds of others, including the massive investment in rail, roads and power. If such reforms had happened in 16 years of the PDP, it would have made things much better for the country.

“Instead, they seem to be fixated with a desperate quest for power, nothing but power for its own sake because they have nothing to offer. They draw a sadistic pleasure when things appear to be going wrongly, yet they offer nothing by way of remedy or solutions.

“The whole country is fighting corruption and the ordinary citizen is happy about all that is happening. The economic parameters have changed for the better, a clear indication that the administration’s political & economic strategies are working but the opposition is not interested

“If the PDP doesn’t have anything that would help our farmers, women, the common man and the youth, they should just keep quiet.

“In the end, one thing Nigerians should take away from the cacophonous falsehoods from the PDP and the tenants back in their tent is that they all fear one thing, that their old records will be reopened,” the Presidency added.

Meanwhile, some House of Representatives members led by Minority Leader, Chukwuka Onyema, claimed that they sighted some pro-Buhari senators trying to break into the Senate.

According Onyema, the senators trying to break into the Senate in an alleged plot to impeach Saraki are Ali Ndume, Abdullahi Adamu and Ovie Omo-Agege, all of the ruling APC.