Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, and the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Council (PDPPCC) are engaged in war of words with the former accusing the latter of plagiarising the economic blueprint of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mr Mohammed addressing a press conference on Thursday, alleged that the presidential candidate of the opposition party, Atiku Abubakar, copied the economic blueprint of the All Progressive Congress (APC)-led regime as originating from himself.
The minister described the economic plan of Mr Abubakar made public last week as a poor version of what is on ground, listing the achievements, which he said have so far been recorded by the incumbent administration.
“Let me say straight away, that the so-called blueprint is a crude attempt at copying all that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has done,” Mr Mohammed boasted, adding, “Especially in the areas of job creation, infrastructure, financing, relationship with the private sector, poverty reduction, debt management and the overall management of the economy.”
But in a statement by the PDPPCC, the opposition party not only described the allegation as untrue but said its presidential candidate cannot plagiarise a failed economic policies of the Buhari regime which, according to them, have driven Nigerians into acute poverty.
The council, while calling on the minister to apologise, also mocked him, saying it’s comical to make such allegations, trying to stand truth on its head.
“While the minister was making a barren attempt to catalogue perceived achievements of the current APC administration, he did the unbelievable by claiming that the policy documents and proposals espoused by Atiku Abubakar, our presidential candidate, are the version of the economic blueprint of the APC,” the PDPPCC responded.
“That is a tsunami of a lie! To begin with, it has been openly acknowledged that this current administration came into power without a single sheet of paper of what could be called a policy document.
“Nigerians are aware that in both 2015 and 2019, it took the APC six months and three months, respectively to constitute a cabinet.”
The Council added that perhaps the Minister might be “interested in telling Nigerians if it is also part of the APC manifesto to foot drag in forming a government.
“It is on record that the first economic recession that the country experienced in 2016, which happens to be our worst economic decline in thirty years, happened primarily because the APC administration applied what can be called a catch-up strategy to the early signals of the recession.
“That is why till this day, Nigerians are more agreeable to the fact that the tenure of the APC has been nothing but a sheer waste of time, all thanks to the catch-up economic strategy of the ruling party that has left the people more malnourished, sick and disillusioned.
“Nigerians of all hues, both the rich and those that are not; the educated and those who are not; the elderly and the young are all witnesses to the scandal that the APC has become in the art of governance.
“Nigerians are rallied in their frustration in the APC and the promise of a better future that our presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar holds for the country after his victory in the 2023 presidential election.”
The statement further said that what the minister reeled out as achievements of the APC is a compilation of the reasons why Nigerians have roundly rejected the ruling party.
“It’s nothing but a testimonial of failures. Conversely, what His Excellency Atiku Abubakar presented to the organised private sector in Lagos State last week represents the hopes of a new beginning, which Nigerians eagerly anticipate.”
