PDP labels Tinubu’s two years in office a “massive disappointment”

In a statement issued Wednesday in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, the opposition party said Nigerians have endured a “nightmarish” experience under the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government, accusing it of being “anti-people and impervious to the suffering of Nigerians.”

The PDP called on President Tinubu to urgently address escalating insecurity, reverse what it described as “economically suffocating policies,” and confront “wholesale corruption, greed, unbridled profligacy, reckless misdirection of resources, arrogance in failure, and totalitarian tendencies” within his administration.

“As a party, we restate our position that any government that cares for the wellbeing of the people and has an idea of macro-economic policy management would have reckoned that an abrupt increase in petrol price and devaluation of the Naira as executed by the Tinubu administration would cripple the productive sector,” the statement read.

The party criticized the President’s economic reforms, noting that the exchange rate of the Naira has spiralled from N167 to over N1,600 against the dollar since the end of PDP’s tenure, while petrol prices have jumped from N87 to over N1,000 per litre.

It also cited inflation nearing 40%, youth unemployment at over 42%, and a rise in food shortages, insecurity, and emigration of skilled Nigerians as indicators of worsening conditions.

The PDP alleged that more than 600,000 Nigerians have lost their lives to terrorism and banditry since May 2023, blaming the government’s “apparent negligence” and failure to secure the country.

It also condemned the exodus of multinational companies, citing a hostile economic environment and collapsing infrastructure.

Further lambasting Tinubu’s borrowing strategy, the opposition highlighted the administration’s debt accumulation, including a fresh $24.14 billion (N38.24 trillion) request, raising Nigeria’s total debt to over N182.91 trillion, with “no corresponding development project or programme that benefits the people.”

The party accused the APC of being more concerned with consolidating power than with addressing Nigeria’s growing crises, stating that the ruling party is “obsessed with turning Nigeria into a one-party state” while indulging in extravagant spending, including private jets, yachts, luxury mansions, and lavish foreign trips.

The PDP concluded by urging President Tinubu to “wake up to the reality that Nigerians are seriously hurting” and to “stop relying on rhetoric and false performance claims.”

It called on him to use the remaining two years of his tenure to redeem his legacy by prioritizing national security, reviewing damaging economic policies, stabilizing the naira, reducing fuel prices, and recruiting skilled professionals to manage the economy.