Mohammed Idris, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, has outlined the rationale behind President Bola Tinubu‘s decision not to step down amidst the prevailing economic challenges confronting the nation.
In response to the appeal by Governors of the Peoples Democratic Party for President Tinubu to resign if incapable of addressing Nigeria’s economic woes, the minister urged the PDP to focus on fulfilling their elected mandate.
Idris, via a statement obtained by Africa Today News, New York, and disseminated by his Special Assistant on Media, Rabiu Ibrahim, characterized the demand for Tinubu’s resignation as nothing more than an endeavor to deflect attention by those who should be actively supporting the President’s endeavors to provide economic relief to Nigerians.
The Minister said, ‘It is our considered view that the PDP and its governors should not be seeking, through the back door of intimidation, what they have consistently failed to achieve by democratic means, since 2015.’
‘Those who could not bring transformational change when they had a lengthy chance 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.’
‘The 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.
“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.’
The minister stated that 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.
The minister then addressed the PDP governors, reiterating that it was not the time for distraction. He emphasized that it was instead time for the rolling up of sleeves to support and complement the hard work of the President and his administration.