Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday has described President Muhammadu Buhari’s unofficial visit to UK is an act of impunity and another constitutional breach.
The party also asked the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the presidency to end their official secrecy and reveal reasons behind president Muhammadu Buhari’s alleged ‘technical stopover’ in London.
PDP said the decision of the presidency to make Buhari’s trip to London a secret was unconstitutional.
The PDP’s spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan challenged Buhari’s handlers to tell Nigerians the truth.
The opposition party said the presidency should always disclose the president’s itinerary because his trips are funded by the country.
The statement reads, “The PDP invites Nigerians to note that President Buhari left the United States 48 hours ago and embarked on an unofficial visit to United Kingdom for undisclosed reasons without transmitting a letter to the National Assembly. This is impunity and another constitutional breach.
“President Buhari had on Tuesday left the United States, where he had an embarrassing and fruitless outing and instead of returning to the country, detoured to the UK for another private visit without regard to full disclosure requirements of our constitution and laws.
“Indeed, Nigerians are worried about the signal being sent out by this penchant for secret itinerary, particularly, given the poor reputation and governance transparency issues confronting our nation under the Buhari administration.
“The Presidency must understand that President Buhari is not a private citizen and as long as his upkeep and itinerary is sourced from our hard-earned resources, there must be full disclosure, as citizens deserve to know the purpose of the visit and the cost to our nation.
“This is especially as President Buhari’s foreign trips, which come at great costs, have not brought any gains to our country. Instead, the President has continued to de-market our nation in the international arena. The just concluded the Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London, where he cast aspersion at our enterprising youths and failed to return with any dividend readily comes to mind.
“Furthermore, President Buhari’s admission at the Voice of America (VOA) that he was unable to reach any agreement with President Donald Trump on any matter of interest to Nigeria, during his US visit and that he has no future development agenda to validate his 2019 re-election bid, confirm our position that the Buhari administration has nothing to offer Nigerians.
“The PDP therefore urges President Buhari’s handlers to adequately prepare him before international outings as well as ensure full disclosure on all his visits outside the country, since he embodies the image and integrity of our nation, until May 29, 2019.”
