By Citizenship Newspaper
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Caucus in the House of Representatives has told President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that Nigerians deserve better treatment under his administration saying that many things have gone wrong and Nigerians are suffering.
The Caucus made the call at a Press Conference after its emergency meeting held in Abuja on Monday to support the decision made by the party leadership through its organs at its meetings earlier held in Zamfara State.
Speaking, leader of the Caucus, Hon. Fred Agbedi stated that the Caucus congratulated Ambassador Umar Iliya Damagun who emerged as the new National Chairman of the party, having acted as Acting National Chairman for a couple of years.
He said, “The PDP, being a party that complies with their constitution and rules and conventions, have once again proved their desire for due process and yesterday, Ambassador Umar Iliya Damagum former Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, was again elected, mandated to lead the party up to the convention and the emergence of a new executive of the PDP by November and eventually to be sworn in early December.
“We are proud of what the National Executive Committee did yesterday, the peaceful manner, the way in which the NEC was conducted, the support from this caucus before the NEC, the support from Governor’s Forum, the support from former ministers, the support from chairmen of parties across the state, the support from members of the National Working Committee, the support from BOT and other organs of the party, have again proved that PDP is the only party and a party to be relied on by Nigeria”.
Hon. Agbedi reiterated the call on President Tinubu’s led APC administration to be fair to the people of Osun State and respect a Court judgement on the local government election held in the state.
He added, “We want to also use this opportunity to ask the federal government to release, obey court, valid court judgments leading to validity or validating the local government elections that were held in Osun State.
“Osun State is led by a PDP governor, a successful government and governor who has proved that he’s in touch with his people and is delivering dividends of democracy to the people of Osun State.
“We are surprised that a supposedly democratic person, the president of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who himself encountered a similar situation, is holding the local government funds and local government administration of Osun State to ransom.
“This is anti-democratic and as a party caucus in the House of Reps, who are lawmakers, we insist that the right thing be done, due process be complied with, legal judgments be obeyed, so that Oshun State and the people of Oshun State and the local governments will enjoy the benefits of the creation and administration of local governments in Osun State.
“And so we urge Mr. President to put a stop to this illegality that is going on by seizing the funds of Osun local governments in Nigeria and immediately release the funds to the validly elected administrations across all the local governments in Osun State.
“We also want to call the attention of Nigerians and the government in power to ensure that there’s safety for Nigerians from Imo State to Katsina State to Plateau State to Benue State, across the nation, Zamfara State, Borono State”.
According to the Caucus, massive killings are going on across the country, adding that a government that cannot protect its people is not a government that is fit to continue in office.
The lawmakers added that the APC government has failed Nigerians for the past 10 years that it has been in power.
The Caucus leader added: “Not only killings, there’s a lot of hardship in this country and Nigerians are groaning in their pains daily. People are committing suicide because the government is not paying attention to them. And Nigerians have come to know that PDP is the only party that can bring so-called to them.
“We can imagine a situation where Nigerians are killed and Mr. President is far away in Brazil and other countries. We remember that when the Chibok incident happened, President Goodluck was out of the country and immediately it happened, he cut off his trip and returned to Nigeria to make sure that he showed solidarity with Nigerians, with Borno State and ensure that government was on ground to see how our children were going to be recovered. Over 10,000 people have been killed in about two years and it is mind-boggling.
“Nigerians are groaning. Mr. President, ensure that you pay your attention to the sufferings of Nigeria. And we want to urge Nigerians to insist that there should be good governors, to insist that they are going to, in 2027, ensure that they decide the right person and the right party to lead them, to give support, to ensure that they vote the APC out”.
The PDP lawmakers also called on the federal government, to pay the contractors who have been protesting over the weeks saying that, foreign contractors are being paid while Nigerian contractors are groaning.
They vowed to ensure that whatever that is owed to our contractors, Nigerian indigenous contractors who have delivered service, are paid their contracts, so that they can be able to feed their homes, feed their families, continue to sustain their business.
They added: “And as a caucus, we will continue to ensure that we put this government on our toes. As a caucus, we will ensure that we do the right laws to help Nigeria. As a caucus, we will ensure that we bring to attention all the illegalities that are perpetrated by this government and we will make sure that Nigerians are better for it”.
