The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has described President Muhammadu Buhari’s participation at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in United Kingdom, as a huge waste.
It said the trip came at huge cost.
According to the leading opposition party in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, the president returned to the country without any gain.
The party said the lack of dividend was a result of the consequence of the president’s negative comments about Nigerians and his presentation of false performance indices to his hosts.
PDP said while other commonwealth heads of state used the occasion to negotiate businesses and showcase the potentials and opportunities in their countries, Buhari succeeded in allegedly de-marketing Nigeria and painting its citizens, particularly the youths, in the negative.
“Nigerians may recall that during his meeting with British Prime Minister, Theresa May, President Buhari, in the quest to hide the failures of his administration and push his 2019 re-election bid, downplayed the worsened economic and security situation in the country under his watch, but opted for self praise and brandishing unsubstantiated record of performance.
“This self-serving stance ultimately blocked all beneficial bilateral engagements that could have helped secure the much needed international interventions in those critical areas.
“Two days after, President Buhari again took the stage at the Commonwealth Business Forum in London and announced to international investors that Nigerian youths, a demography that forms the bulk of our nation’s workforce, are uneducated and lovers of freebies.
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“We were therefore not surprised that no serious investor sealed any meaningful investment deal with Nigeria as dividend from the CHOGM,” PDP said in the statement.
The party said it was also instructive that despite the public outrage that trailed the president’s alleged denigration of youths, the Buhari Presidency had not offered any apology to the nation, particularly the youths.
The party said having returned from CHOGM with nothing but wasted opportunities, the Presidency should immediately make public the cost of the trip on the national coffers.
“We note that the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its Federal Government have irredeemably failed and can no longer represent our interest and aspiration as a nation,” it declared.
