The main opposition party in Nigeria, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to step down with immediate effect.
A statement issued on Wednesday, September 14, 2016 by the spokesperson of the PDP’s national caretaker committee, Dayo Adeyeye called said that the worsening recession in the country and the lack of pragmatic approach to arresting the development from Buhari is enough reason for him to resign from the office of president.
The party called for Buhari to return the Nigerian economy to its “booming state when he assumed office in May 2015” or “vacate the office for other capable leaders” to rescue the ailing economy.
Adeyeye recalled the “recession is a word” comment by Nigeria’s finance minister, Kemi Adeosun and questioned, “Is this statement as a result of ignorance, lack of patriotism or in line with President Buhari’s comment that his ministers are noise makers?”
“For the record, recession is characterised as a period of negative economic growth for two consecutive quarters, giving rise to high rate of unemployment, fall in output, increase in government borrowing, etc,” the statement said.
“Following this understanding, Nigeria’s economy is already near depression. The crass ineptitude and lukewarm attitude of this All Progressives Congress government is no longer tolerable, and therefore, we are calling on President Buhari and his team to return Nigeria to its state of booming economy before they assumed office in May, 2015, and then quit immediately to allow other capable leaders recover our ailing economy.”
Adeyeye said about three airlines, local and international, and some banks, have suspended operations and sent their staff on indefinite leave due to poor state of the economy.
