The Peoples Democratic Party has called on Nigerians to hold the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration directly responsible for the abduction of the girls.
It also said that the Presidency must also be held responsible for several other atrocities committed by insurgents against the citizens.
A statement issued by the Spokesperson for the former ruling party, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja on Friday, accused the Presidency of putting Nigerians at risk by allegedly deceiving the people and issuing what he described as false performance indices, suggesting that insurgents had been completely routed.
This, he said, made unsuspecting citizens to trust the government by dropping their guards in the face of real threats and danger.
He said, “Without a doubt, if the incompetent All Progressives Congress-led government had not dished out lies to the people in a bid to score cheap political points for its 2019 re-election bid, more precautionary measures would have been adopted by the affected communities to ensure adequate protection.
“While Nigerians are appalled by the APC’s recourse to false indices in critical sectors, it is , however, to say the least, an inexcusable height of wickedness to give a vulnerable people a false assurance of security when they are actually in danger.
“Furthermore, the PDP decries as iniquitous, the efforts by the APC-controlled federal authorities to suppress information on the abduction, leading to conflicting reports and frustrating of the rescue mission, just because they seek to hide the failures of the Presidency in ensuring the safety of Nigerians, particularly in the North.
“We were shocked that in their proclivity to deceive, the authorities earlier informed Nigerians that some of the girls had been recovered only for the news to turn out to be false.”
Ologbondiyan added that the Federal Government’s team, headed by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made no effort to commiserate with the community leaders and parents of the abducted girls.
He also said that the minister shut out the media during the visit, adding that the action further confirmed the ruling party’s insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians.
He said that it was more irking that the President would publicly provide a day an asymmetry war would come to an end as if the acts of the insurgency were fought like a conventional warfare.
He also said that it was painful that Nigerians were faced today with a government that had been heavy on propaganda and issuing of false statistics, while playing down on several atrocities committed against the defenceless citizens.
“Under the PDP, Nigerians were never told lies on the true situation of the state of affairs in all sectors, particularly security. The PDP-led government constantly briefed Nigerians and carried all stakeholders along in our concerted effort in securing lives and property in our nation,” he added.
Ologbondiyan asked Nigerians and indeed the world to hold the Presidency and the APC-led Federal Government directly “responsible for the abduction of these defenceless schoolgirls as well as the killings in our country today.”
He said that the PDP stood with the parents of the abducted girls at the moment of their pains and prayed for the speedy return of their children.
He implored the security forces to insulate themselves from the alleged APC propaganda by taking very decisive professional steps to rescue the girls and end the killings in the country.
