Apologise To Jonathan, PDP Tells Pres. Buhari

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has insisted that contrary to claims by the Presidency, the $2.1 billion Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG, component of the bailout for states, was actually saved by the immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan - led PDP administration.

The party said in actual fact the LNG dividend stood at $5.6 billion even before the handover date of May 29th and would have been shared but for the insistence of former President Goodluck Jonathan that it be left for the incoming administration to manage.

The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, in statement on Wednesday thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for making it possible for Nigerians to know that monies were left behind by the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

The party said despite attempts by the APC-led administration to hide the truth, the issuance of the bailout with funds from the LNG proceeds and the Excess Crude Account has exposed the fact that the PDP administration actually left behind huge sums of money, contrary to the impression earlier given to Nigerians and the international community that the new administration met a virtually empty treasury.

The PDP said it believes that President Buhari must have realized that he was earlier misdirected on the actual state of the nation’s finances and should as a respected statesman apologize to his predecessor, President Goodluck Jonathan, who also ensured that he handed over to him a peaceful and stable environment to operate.

The PDP also urged the APC as a party in power to rise above board and endeavour to be honest in its dealings, especially if it wants Nigerians to take it seriously. It said a situation where a ruling party will resort to a dishonourable act of altering a statement where it earlier acknowledged the approval for the withdrawal from the ECA, just to hide the truth, leaves much to be desired.

Finally, we want the public to note that all our statements and engagements have been based on facts and issues. Consequently, we urge the Presidency to focus on issues and stop trending on personal insults, threats and abuses.