‘Your Address Depressing, Failed Empathy Test’ – PDP Fires Buhari

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has lambasted President Muhammadu Buhari over his nationwide broadcast over the ongoing #EndSARS protest rocking the country.

Naija News reports that Buhari in his speech called for an end to the protest, adding that his government had already accepted and started implementing demands of the protesters.

He, however, failed to acknowledge the use of excessive force by soldiers of the Nigerian Army on protesters in Lekki Toll Plaza.

Reacting in a statement on Thursday night by its spokesperson, Kola Ologbodinyan, the PDP said Buhari’s address was depressing and failed empathy test.

The PDP said: “Our party and, indeed, all lovers of peace in our country, were shocked that Mr. President 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.

“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. Furthermore, Nigerians had expected that Mr. President will provide the lead for the much- needed overhauling of our security architecture to meet the demands of professionalism and respect for rules of engagement.”

The party stated that Buhari also failed to use the opportunity to further heal wounds and inspire hope by outlining a roadmap to open up the economy in a manner that will enable hard-working youths to pursue their productive goals.

“In solidarity with Nigerians and in honour to the victims of Lekki Toll Gate killing, our party has directed that our flags in all our offices across the nation be flown at half-mast for a period of one week, beginning from Friday, October 23, 2020,” the party said/

The PDP urgds all men and women of good faith to join forces in praying for Nigeria as well as working towards solutions and peaceful resolution of the crisis.