Minister speaks on Tinubu’s resignation call

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris has described the call for President Bola Tinubu’ resignation by People Democatic Party, (PDI), as a distraction ploy set in motion to thwart the ongoing economic relief process of the President.

The Minister of Information noted that rather key into supporting the President’s efforts at bringing economic relief to the Nigerian people the PDP and its Governors should stop seeking, through the back door of intimidation, what they have consistently failed to achieve by democratic means, since 2015.

According to a statement by
Rabiu Ibrahim, Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister, those who could not bring transformational change when the had the opportunity to, should not seek to interrupt or distract those who are busy at work on the presidential vision that Nigerians elected them to implement.

The administration of President Bola Tinubu has also, since inception, generously extended financial support to all the State Governments, regardless of partisan affiliation. In addition, the removal of the petrol subsidy—which, incidentally, was one of the main planks of the PDP presidential campaign—has swelled the revenues of all States, including the PDP States. To whom more has been given, more is therefore expected.

He said, President and his administration recognise the unfinished business of revamping our national economy kickstarted by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, through programmes focused on large-scale infrastructure, social welfare, prioritizing the equipping and welfare of the military and security agencies, and reclaiming Nigeria’s strategic place in the comity of nations. Boko Haram and its affiliates, on the ascendancy in 2014/2015, have since been decimated, and similar bold gains are now being made with bandits and other criminals.

It is also of note that Nigerians have not forgotten that it was the APC administration that cleared several liabilities left behind by the PDP government, such as subsidy claims by oil marketers, Paris Club Refunds, unpaid pensions, gratuities, and salary arrears owed various categories of pensioners from liquidated and existing State-Owned Enterprises.

Major oil sector reforms that the PDP touted for years but could not deliver – passage of the PIB, new refineries, as well as the revamp of existing ones, and so on – are the very real and continuing legacies of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

All of these have been accomplished without access to the oil windfall that the PDP government enjoyed for much of the time that it was in power, and also against the backdrop of the most devastating global shock since the Second World War: the COVID-19 pandemic.

We must continue to state these facts so Nigerians will know where we are coming from, and appreciate what is being done in its full context.

President Tinubu is not and will never be overwhelmed by the current challenges the country is facing. He will not abdicate his responsibilities. He will courageously continue to wrestle with the challenges and surmount them, laying a durable foundation for the new Nigeria that is emerging.

He has also never shied away from acknowledging the pain of ongoing reforms, and has seized every opportunity to assure Nigerians that inside the pain of the reforms lie the seeds of lasting prosperity and national development.

He further reiterate that PDP should understand that this is not time for distraction, but a time to roll up sleeves, to support and complement the hard work of the President.