President Muhammadu Buhari’s media aide Garba Shehu has criticised PDP governors for being anti-Buhari, describing them as greedy, profligate, and unfit to rule Nigeria “any time soon.”

He said this in a statement on Wednesday, reacting to the PDP governors’ communique issued at the end of their meeting in Uyo.

Mr Shehu said the governors failed to queue behind Mr Buhari’s efforts to rid the country of corruption and criminals, ”instead, they grasp for more money and mourn their lack of access to social media to spread falsehoods and hate.”

The governors condemned how some government agencies like the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) are managed under Mr Buhari’s regime.

”The PDP Governors’ Forum communiqué was a spectacular demonstration to the people of Nigeria as to why this party and its representatives should not be entrusted with national leadership of our country any time soon.

”In bemoaning the decision by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) not to make contributions to the federation account, the governors appear to believe NNPC can spend the same money twice: once on the petroleum subsidy – which they all support – and then on their states via the federation account.

”NNPC is a trustee for the nation – and this means it must manage its finances with prudence, and for the long-term to safeguard the financial support it bestows on our country. What the governors are asking of NNPC is to ‘break the bank’ for their own profligate political ends. Similar profligacy and contradiction are in full view with their call to the central bank to appreciate the value of the naira.”

According to him, this will damage exports (including oil revenues on which NNPC depends) and damage small businesses and employment.

”This, no doubt, being the leading desire of a typical PDP governor. When the governors claim a lack of federal institutions’ money pouring into their states’ coffers is an affront to democracy, constitutionalism, and federalism,” he said.

Mr Shehu further pointed out that the PDP governors ”fail to mention the ugliest trend against the integrity of Nigeria comes by (their) own hands with their refusal to support the federal government’s earnest desire to reinstate the local government as the third tier” of government.

He also accused the governors of refusing to support Mr Buhari in “finding a lasting solution” to farmer-herder violent conflicts “costing the nation lives and livestock.”

”This initiative brings rights and support for generations of all ages to bring solutions to challenges that different communities of our country have faced, but the PDP governors reject it,” Mr Shehu asserted.

Mr Shehu stated that with this, the governors denied Nigerians their constitutional right to live and work in any part of the country, ”preferring to appeal to ethnic division and hatred rather than support the first practical solution offered since independence.”

Mr Shehu also condemned the PDP governors’ stance on the Twitter ban. He noted that the governors had been using the microblogging platform to spread fake news and invented stories.

”Of course, the PDP grieve over the federal government’s action over Twitter – for it represents the curtailment of their ability to use the platform to spread fake news and invented stories to the detriment of community and good-neighbourliness between the peoples of Nigeria.

”Their statement is evidence, if any were needed, as to why the president and the APC ended the PDP’s one-party rule in 2015, were reelected by an increased margin in 2019, and why their winning trend is set to continue far into the future,” said Mr Shehu.