Gooluck Jonathan is handing over a collapsed country – APC

Firstclass newsline learnt that the party said the Jonathan
administration was leaving behind a fractured economy without
electricity, with no fuel and disgruntled workers on strike over the
non-payment of salaries.
This was contained in a statement issued in Abuja by its National
Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
The APC however appealed to Nigerians not to lose hope despite the
daunting challenges currently being faced "in this atmosphere of
contrived chaos, saying help is on the way."
The Peoples Democratic Party could however not be reached for comments.
Calls to the mobile telephone of the party's spokesman, Chief Olisa
Metuh, indicated that it was switched off. A response to a text
message sent to him was still being awaited as of the time of filing
this report.
Mohammed said, "In a few days' time, President Jonathan will hand over
to the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari. Never in the history of our
country has any government handed over to another a more distressed
country: No electricity, no fuel, workers are on strike, billions are
owed to state and federal workers, $60bn is being owed in national
debt and the economy is virtually grounded
"Today, Nigerians are roaming the streets, jerry cans in hand,
searching for everything from kerosene to fuel to diesel to power
their homes, keep their vehicles on the road and keep their businesses
going.
"They are paying as much as N300 per litre for fuel, if at all they
can get it. Yet their government is not saying a word about the
situation."
The APC also said while the Jonathan administration had "arrogantly
told Nigerians that it remains in office and in power till May 29, all
it had been doing is sacking people and making new appointments as if
it had been deprived of the opportunity to do so in the past six
years."
The party lamented that the outgoing administration had shown no
interest on how to end the fuel scarcity that had paralysed the
socio-economic lives of Nigerians.
"They are not interested in how to raise electricity production from
its unprecedentedly low level of 1,327 megawatts, they are not doing
anything to end the strike by blue and white collar oil workers, or to
stop the impending one.
"They say they are in office till May 29, but they do not care how
workers in 18 states, who are owed a total of N300bn in salaries under
their watch or federal workers who are owed N400bn, will be paid. Yet,
they are running a budget of N1tn deficit," APC said.
It also alleged that the administration had deliberately stopped
meeting its obligations to oil marketers on fuel subsidy, which the
party put at about N200bn.
The statement observed that if the current energy crisis was not
solved soonest, the telecommunications sector could even be grounded
in a matter of days as service providers would have neither
electricity nor fuel to power their base stations.
"Of course, the aviation sector has already been left comatose by the
fuel crisis. The whole scenario reeks of sabotage!," the party said.
The APC explained that if the nation was being well managed and there
was no problem, it would not have embarked on a campaign for change.
Mohammed said the "APC is ready, willing and able to begin to address
the mammoth challenges facing us as a nation as soon as we assume
office at the centre in a few days' time."
He, however, said the party would not hesitate for a second to keep
Nigerians informed of how "we have been brought to this sorry state,
with a view to avoiding such a tragic turn in the future."
The party also expressed sadness that the nation had been on auto
pilot for the past several weeks, as the outgoing administration had
shown neither the capacity nor the willingness "to resolve any of the
crises it has contrived and foisted on the nation.
"This is the most vivid manifestation of the old saying that literally
translates to a departing office holder defecating on the chair he is
vacating,".
Firstclassnewsline.net