The Presidency took a swipe on Thursday at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), describing the opposition party as Nigeria’s single biggest obstacle to good governance.
It was a response to the remark credited to the PDP that there was disconnect between President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
In a statement by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the Presidency urged the PDP to critically examine itself.
In a remark by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP said “President Buhari and the APC are not in good terms”.
The Presidency, however, noted that the main opposition party had lost focus and now bothering itself with issues that were not in its place to contemplate about.
It urged the party to rather concern itself with its own issues and think of how to rebuild its image, which had allegedly broken down.
The statement reads: “As the Peoples Democratic Party, the country’s main opposition party grapples with deeply troubling questions about its terminal decline and future in national politics, Nigerians must be surprised reading a statement issued by them, assuming the role of spokesmen for President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Today, the PDP represents the single biggest obstacle to good governance and change that the country needs and the people are yearning for.
“Both self-respect and sound political judgement demand that the party takes an introspective look at itself after two successive defeats in national elections, asking what went wrong and how to fix its battered image.
“They need to go back to the people, in towns and villages, to know what the people want and what the country needs.
“Instead of doing that, they are taking roles for themselves that are not mandated by law, morality or political gamesmanship.
“What business do they have issuing a statement on the love or the lack of it between the President and his party? This is not why they lost elections.
“The party needs a reboot that aligns with current national mood and aspirations, to focus on their grim future after two successive defeats. It is the issue they need to focus on, if they are to be taken as a serious opposition party again.
“A tough task awaits anyone leading a party with nothing to offer to contemporary Nigerians but corruption, misgovernance and division.
“As for the APC, the geographical expansion of the party is nothing short of a testimony to the rosy future that lies ahead. The party has come to stay, and the President and the country will ensure that this is achieved.”