US Visit: Presidency Laying Claim to Imaginary Gains, Says PDP

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that the presidency is planning to hoodwink Nigerians by laying claims to imaginary and fictitious investments and economic opportunities as gains of President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to the United States.

The party said its findings revealed that part of the scheme is to inject  extraneous issues in their account of interaction between President  Buhari and President Donald Trump in order to arrive at a predetermined  impression of a successful state visit.

A statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said part of the plan includes presenting President Trump with false performance indices  and claiming that the US President endorsed the Buhari administration’s  imaginary economic direction, its discredited anti-corruption war as  well as the failed handling of security in the country.

“This is in addition to bogus claims of imaginary deals sealed with  certain investors to bring in huge investments into Nigeria, a practice  that has become a pattern whenever the President goes on official visit  abroad.

“We invite Nigerians to note that the presidency had always claimed to  attract huge investments, the latest being claims of a $15 billion  investment during the 2018 Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting  (CHOGM), whereas no sign of such investments have come to our country,” it said.

The opposition party further said it was aware that in line with this scheme, a particular  cabinet minister had since last week, been moving around media houses  and other interests in the United States with a view to procuring,  swaying and lobbying for endorsements for President Buhari.

“We note that the issue of governance by falsehood and procured  endorsements in the past three years has led our country into the present  predicament in all sectors.
“As we move towards 2019, it is imperative that Nigerians are not fed  with fake performance indices, whereas the market dynamics and reality  on ground shows the contrary.

“We therefore charge the presidency and the All Progressives Congress  (APC) to shed their proclivity for propaganda as government by falsehood  cannot yield any dividend to the people,” it said.

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