PDP asks Fashola to apologise and resign over road comment

The Peoples Democratic Party has asked the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola to apologise to Nigerians and resign over his comment that Nigerian roads aren’t so bad as they are being portrayed.

The opposition party in a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan on Friday, November 8, 2019, described Fashola’s statement as unfortunate.

PDP said Fashola’s comment was a violent assault on the sensibility of over 200 million Nigerians.

The party added that the minister’s comment showed the disdain with which the Buhari administration holds Nigerians, who lost their lives and also undergo physical and mental torture plying the roads.

Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola has been receiving criticisms for saying Nigerian roads aren't so bad. [Twitter/@OrderPaper] Pulse Nigeria

The statement reads, “The PDP holds that the Minister’s comment must be premeditated and reflects the official position of the Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration, which has no regard for Nigerians and only thrives in propaganda and false claims to cover its failures in governance.

“Every Nigerian knows that most of the major roads across the country are in sorry state and that travelling on our roads has become traumatizing and one of the highest life threatening experiences in our country since the last four years.

“The comment by the failed Minister of Works is therefore highly provocative and capable of invoking the anger of Nigerians, because it shows that either he has not been going through our roads and as such not in touch with reality or he has exposed himself as falsehearted official.

“Our party is however not surprised at such comment from the minister because the Buhari administration, in which he serves, thrives only in propaganda, blame game, excuses and false performance claims because it has nothing to offer.

“The Minister’s reprehensible claim is therefore a clear pointer that Nigerians should not expect any intervention on roads under the Buhari administration.

“This is the same Minister who boasted that any responsible government should fix power within six months, only for the Buhari administration, with him as Minister supervising power, to turn around and wrecked the gains achieved by previous administrations”.

In an earlier statement on Friday, the party had urged the Senate not to pass the Value Added Tax increase bill.

The opposition party said that the bill was hurriedly passed through second reading in the Senate even when the details of the bill were not made available to the lawmakers, adding that the alleged failure to avail the details of the bill to the lawmakers confirmed its toxicity to the polity.