The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has lashed out at the governors elected on the platform of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the call for the resignation of President Bola Tinubu following economic hardship in the country.

The PDP governors had, in a statement on Saturday, February 17, 2024, enjoined Tinubu to “throw in the towel” if he can’t govern Nigeria anymore.

Reacting, the APC, in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, on Sunday, said the PDP governors have turned themselves into “a band of doomsday vocalists” rather than live up to their responsibilities as the leader of each state of the federation.

Morka noted that by virtue of the governors’ membership of the National Economic Council and National Council of State, they have a duty to proffer constructive ideas or solutions to the challenges facing Nigeria.

The APC spokesman said: “Like all citizens, governors are entitled to free speech. However, that right must be exercised against a standard of respectability and reasonableness. Reckless utterances capable of inflaming passions and social upheaval must be avoided.

“Likening Nigeria to Venezuela as the PDP governors did in a recent communique, even under the prevailing challenging economic and security contexts of Nigeria, is unhelpful and smacks of unrighteous indignation.

PDP: Tinubu’s govt has no measures to address hardship, insecurity

“Rather than live up to their responsibilities as chief executive officers of Nigeria’s federating units, the PDP governors have turned themselves into a band of doomsday vocalists, raising their voices to deafening decibels intended to drown the groans of their citizens battered by their critical inertia, ineptitude and dismal performance as governors of their states.”

He further described the PDP governors’ call to the president to resign from office as self-indictment, saying: “It is cringeworthy that the same governors that have never justified the massive federal allocations to their states, that have perennially stifled and dispossessed local government administrations of federally allocated funds are talking about ‘buck’.

“How can a governor of a state in utter shambles like Delta participate, barefaced, in a talk about ‘buck’? Has the PDP governor of Delta state even attempted to justify the over N483.57 billion federal allocation to the state in 2023? Which part or sector of Delta State bears witness to the use of that huge allocation? Delta State retirees have remained desperately pulverized by PDP’s uninterrupted reckless rule since the advent of this Republic in 1999.”

The APC spokesperson added that the PDP governors, at the state level, should practice what they preach by resigning from their offices rather than blaming the federal government for their “utter failure to mobilize massive resources at their disposal to improving the living conditions of their people”.

Morka noted that President Tinubu is taking responsibility and providing solid leadership in “this historic season of deep and enduring economic transformation in our country”.

The Star