Hardship: Tinubu Won’t Resign – Mohammed Idris

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, on Sunday dismissed calls by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Governors Forum, for the resignation of President Bola Tinubu over the current economic hardship in the country.

The PDP Governors Forum, in a statement signed by the director-general, Hon. CID Maduabum, on Saturday, had urged Tinubu to resign if he cannot provide sustainable solutions to the country’s problems.

“Hardship and suffering being faced by Nigerians have no tribal, religious or party colouration. A hungry man is an angry man.

“While all tiers of government have a role to play, the APC led Federal Government has a disproportionate role to play in mobilising Nigerians and all organs and tiers of government for sustainable solutions.

“If it can not do so or is unable to do so, it should graciously throw in the towel,” the PDP governors said.

However, replying the PDP governors in a statement by Rabiu Ibrahim, his Special Assistant on Media, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Idris insisted that Tinubu will not resign.

The statement was titled, ‘Tinubu won’t resign, says minister: PDP Governors, it is time to do the work you were elected for.’

“The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, notes the statement by the PDP Governors Forum, directing a call for resignation at President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR.

“The call is nothing but an attempt at distraction by people who should instead be busy supporting the President’s efforts at bringing economic relief to the Nigerian people.

“It is our considered view that the PDP and its Governors should not be seeking, through the back door of intimidation, what they have consistently failed to achieve by democratic means, since 2015.

“Those who could not bring transformational change when they had a lengthy chance to, should not seek to interrupt or distract those who are busy at work on the presidential vision that Nigerians elected them to implement,” the statement said.

The minister noted that the administration of President Bola Tinubu had, since inception, generously extended financial support to all the State Governments, regardless of partisan affiliation.

“In addition, the removal of the petrol subsidy — which, incidentally, was one of the main planks of the PDP presidential campaign — has swelled the revenues of all States, including the PDP States. To whom more has been given, more is therefore expected,” the minister added.

Continuing, the minister said, “The President and his administration recognise the unfinished business of revamping our national economy kick-started by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, through programmes focused on large-scale infrastructure, social welfare, prioritizing the equipping and welfare of the military and security agencies, and reclaiming Nigeria’s strategic place in the comity of nations.

“Boko Haram and its affiliates, on the ascendancy in 2014/2015, have since been decimated, and similar bold gains are now being made with bandits and other criminals.”

Idris further noted that Nigerians have not forgotten that it was the APC administration that cleared several liabilities left behind by the PDP government, such as subsidy claims by oil marketers, Paris Club Refunds, unpaid pensions, gratuities, and salary arrears owed various categories of pensioners from liquidated and existing State-Owned Enterprises.

“Major oil sector reforms that the PDP touted for years but could not deliver – passage of the PIB, new refineries, as well as the revamp of existing ones, and so on – are the very real and continuing legacies of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

“All of these have been accomplished without access to the oil windfall that the PDP government enjoyed for much of the time that it was in power, and also against the backdrop of the most devastating global shock since the Second World War: the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We must continue to state these facts so Nigerians will know where we are coming from, and appreciate what is being done in its full context.”

The minister stressed that “President Tinubu is not and will never be overwhelmed by the current challenges the country is facing”.

“He (Tinubu) will not abdicate his responsibilities. He will courageously continue to wrestle with the challenges and surmount them, laying a durable foundation for the new Nigeria that is emerging.

“He has also never shied away from acknowledging the pain of ongoing reforms, and has seized every opportunity to assure Nigerians that inside the pain of the reforms lie the seeds of lasting prosperity and national development.

“To the PDP Governors, let us reiterate: This is not the time for distraction. It is time instead for the rolling up of sleeves, to support and complement the hard work of the President and his administration.”