By Editor
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the long-awaited address by President Muhammadu Buhari on the protests rocking the nation, as disappointing and completely disconnected from the realities of the tragic occurrences in Nigeria in the last two weeks.
The party however appealed to Nigerians, particularly the youth, to remain calm and allow a return to normal life in the collective quest for peaceful co-existence in the overall interest of our nation.
A statement by PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan Thursday night said “Mr. President’s address, in the face of the turmoil witnessed, the unrests as well as the killing of young Nigerians, is to say the least, depressing and failing in empathy test”.
The party expressed shock that Mr. President reportedly glossed over the immediate trigger of violent protests – the widely condemned killing at the Lekki Toll Gate by security operatives, “a situation which created a global concern and drew the attention of the world to the abuse of human rights going on in our country under his watch”.
Additionally, the statement said “Painfully too, Mr. President, as the Commander-in-Chief, was silent on the demand by Nigerians for enquires into the involvement of the military in the gruesome killing.
“Sadly, the long awaited address failed to inspire any hope. It failed to address the trepidations, the pervading hopelessness, the drifting towards anarchy and provided no concrete steps on how to arrest the situation and rein in bandits, hoodlums and vandals that were let loose to unleash violence on peaceful protesters and innocent Nigerians.
“In short, from the letters of the address, there were no correlations between the fundamentals of the crisis situation that we have witnessed and the long-sought reaction of Mr President” the statement read in part.
