COVID-19: PDP has nothing of value to contribute to fight against pandemic – BMO

By Musa Adamu

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has again shown that it has nothing of value to add to efforts to contain either the spread or impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has said.
It said they all that the party has is its unwholesome distraction and its obsession with President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has therefore advised the party to take a cue from South Africa’s main opposition party, Democratic Alliance (DA), on how a responsible political party behaves at a time of a global emergency, rather than playing petty politics.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, BMO said PDP is always keen on grandstanding in the media because it is bereft of meaningful ideas.
“We have seen how, twice in a week, the party engage in its usual pastime of issuing meaningless statements all in a bid to remain relevant.
“The latest is what is meant to be a response to Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu who fittingly advised PDP to shut up if it has nothing of value to contribute to the fight against the pandemic, but it turned out to be another self-serving effort by a party that has absolutely nothing to offer Nigerians.
“We invite PDP and its leaders to take a look at what their well-informed counterparts in South Africa have been doing since March when they publicly pledged full support to efforts by the Cyril Ramaphosa government to fight against the spread of Covid-19.
“Rather than issuing meaningless and caustic press statements, DA expressed a commitment to ‘working side-by-side with the South African government’ and even urged local governments controlled by the party to consider, amongst others, ‘possible immediate rates payment relief to businesses in their jurisdiction’.
“We also know that as far back as the second week in March, South Africa’s main opposition party put a stop to all political rallies at a time their Nigerian counterpart endorsed a so-called South West unification rally in Ibadan, Oyo state in spite of a global caution on large gatherings.
“So our piece of advice is for PDP to do something meaningful by studying what a responsible opposition like DA is doing or shut up like Garba Shehu told them”.
BMO also advised the party to stop giving the impression that it speaks for the majority of Nigerians who twice gave the President an overwhelming mandate.
‘’What can be more annoying than a party that was twice rejected, massively, by a majority of Nigerians to always give the impression that it is speaking for the same people?
“It is glaring to every apolitical individual or group that even before the country recorded its index case, the Nigerian authorities had been taking sure and steady steps to prepare for the pandemic that has touched virtually all the countries of the world.
“This has earned encomiums from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UN which recently noted that the country had done well where even developed countries were struggling.
“Aside from ensuring immediate cash reliefs to the poorest of the poor, President Buhari has since approved the release of 70,000 metric tons of grains from the Strategic Grain Reserve as well as the release of 153 truck-loads of seized imported rice for distribution to Nigerians.
“This is aside from a three-month moratorium for beneficiaries of Trader Moni and Market Moni, as well as those who took loans from government institutions. Not to talk about Central Bank’s N3.5tn stimulus package for businesses impacted negatively by Covid-19.
“But all these clearly do not mean much to a party that is always prepared to latch on to anything to present the country and its institutions in a bad light, even when Nigerians recognized that PDP left the country in worse shape than it met it.
“It is laughable that a party with so much corruption baggage, a party which twice looted money raised for its National Secretariat is now pontificating to a man known globally for probity.
“For the avoidance of doubt, this President is too patriotic to allow Nigeria and Nigerians feel the full impact of the deadly pandemic and will continue to take steps to mitigate the adverse effects.
It urged Nigerians to trust President Buhari to keep his words on ensuring that palliatives reach everyone that they are meant for.