TheCable

The presidency has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of trying to trivialise President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Lagos state.

The PDP had, on Sunday, said the president has not shown empathy by visiting victims of attacks across the country, but instead “APC and its leaders party while Nigeria burns”.

But in a statement on Monday, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesperson, said Buhari’s recent visit to Lagos was to launch a seaward defence boat (SDB) built by the Nigerian Navy in the state.

Shehu said the president also used the opportunity to grace the book launch of Bisi Akande, former governor of Osun, but that the PDP has tried to trivialise the president’s visit by focusing on the book launch alone.

He said instead of commending the president’s effort to secure the country, the PDP would rather peddle false information about the APC-led government.

Shehu wondered if the president should not have attended Akande’s book launch when it coincided with a visit to attend to state affairs.

“On 9th December in Lagos, President Muhammadu Buhari launched a made- in-Nigeria naval defence ship, NNS Oji, and inducted other vital military assets that improve the country’s capabilities to fight increased piracy in the Gulf of Guinea,” Shehu said.

“While in Lagos, the President also graced the launch of an autobiography by Bisi Akande – a leader who played a crucial role in keeping democratic opposition to military rule alive, and later a critical place in the development and ultimate unity of that opposition to create today’s APC.

“Without visionaries such as Bisi Akande, the corrupt PDP and its acolytes who have done so much to strip our nation of its wealth, stunt its growth, and subject it to derogation abroad would still be in office.

“But, of course, those in the PDP who have nothing positive or new to add to the debate about the future of the nation seek to trivialise the President’s Lagos visit: they choose to ignore the crucial launch of the naval vessels; they suggest the primary reason for going to Lagos was to attend a book launch.

“They try to make further mileage by claiming the President should not have attended given the attack by bandits elsewhere in the country that same day.”

Shehu accused the PDP of not doing anything to combat banditry “for decades”, alleging that the party allowed the armed forced to suffer negligence while in power.

“It is noted they have not criticised the President for boosting the country’s seaborne defence capacity. Instead, they only manage to make the attack personal,” he said.

“It reveals the chasm of difference between a president who cares for the country while managing to show courtesy to his comrades – and the opposition who corrupted the country through the sharing out of its wealth while celebrating and splashing about stolen public money.

“Sadly, these opportunistic opposition elements, in a desperate search for political points, have dragged respected religious leaders into the discussion, feeding them misleading information who have in turn used this distorted picture to black paint the President in the eyes of gullible and innocent members of the public. “