Ekiti PDP Wants N’ Assembly to Reject Buhari’s Emergency Powers Bill

By Olakiitan Victor in Ado Ekiti

The Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the plan by President Muhammadu Buhari to seek emergency powers from the National Assembly to handle the nation’s economy as an alleged authoritarian demand that would further breed dictatorship in the country.

It noted that such a demand is an indication that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is incapable of delivering on its promises, and seeking excuses for its poor performance and ways to hold the people of the country by their throats using state powers.

The PDP in a statement by its  state Publicity Secretary, Mr. Jackson Adebayo, in Ado-Ekiti yesterday, said Buhari was also seeking means of putting on a dictatorial garment in a democratic setting.

“Is it not dastardly for the president to say he is seeking emergency powers for his administration to handle the nation’s economy? Then, what are the duties of those in the Finance Ministry and other sectors involved in the day-to-day running and management of the economy? If they are unproductive, why not send them away.

“The National Assembly few months ago urged the president to look beyond the APC in getting those to handle the economy, but he did not listen. With the emergency powers he is seeking, will he now begin to dip into people’s accounts and assets to get money to finance government’s projects?” the PDP asked.

The party maintained that it was a strange development that a president would want to go outside the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to address any issue, confronting the country instead of looking inward and bringing in experts who would tackle the problem within the precinct of the rule of law as provided for by the constitution.

According to the party, the present situation was witnessed in the Second Republic when most of the states then used to receive zero allocation from the federal government,  yet the president then didn’t throw away the constitution to solve the problem, but rather constituted proactive economic team that brought the situation under control before the then General Muhammadu Buhari overthrew the government and dismantled the process to usher in more hardship on Nigerians.

The PDP noted that the fake preparation for governance by the APC and the inability of the president in handling national economic matters were responsible for this anti-democratic proposal.

“We are drawing the attention of Nigerians to this dangerous proposal, which is a long term agenda of the APC. Their inability to handle economic matters started manifesting from the beginning of their administration when they started with impracticable, retrogressive policies in virtually all sectors like banning importation of food items which the country has not been able to produce abundantly, issuing 31 forex policies within two months, moping government account into a single treasury account without minding its consequences on financial institutions and labour market.

“Shoddy budget preparation and unnecessary declaration of ‘war’ on oil zone where the bulk of government finances comes from caused the recession. It is a pity that the federal government has continued to be its own enemy with attendant hardship on Nigerians, with its inordinate policies and engagements for the past two years,” the party noted.

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