The party criticised Tinubu’s economic policies, particularly the removal of fuel subsidies and the devaluation of the Naira, noting that such decisions have exacerbated poverty and unemployment.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described President Bola Tinubu’s first two years in office as “nightmarish” and a total “disappointment” for Nigerians.

In a statement issued on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, the opposition party condemned the performance of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government, accusing it of widespread policy failures, economic mismanagement, and a disregard for public suffering.

“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has appraised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s two years in office and asserts that his administration is a massive disappointment,” Ologunagba stated.

“Nigerians have gone through hell under the insensitive Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress (APC) government which evidently holds no good for the citizens.”

The party criticised Tinubu’s economic policies, particularly the removal of fuel subsidies and the devaluation of the Naira, noting that such decisions have exacerbated poverty and unemployment.

The PDP tasks President Tinubu to urgently address the issue of insecurity, reverse what it described as “economically suffocating policies and check the wholesale corruption, greed, unbridled profligacy, reckless misdirection of resources, arrogance in failure and totalitarian tendencies in his administration, which has shown itself as anti-people and impervious to the suffering of Nigerians.”

Ologunagba stated, “As a Party, we restate our position that any government that cares for the wellbeing of the people and has an idea of macro-economic policy management would have reckoned that an abrupt increase in petrol price and devaluation of the Naira as executed by the Tinubu administration would cripple the productive sector, inflame high costs, crash millions of businesses, trigger mass job loss, escalate poverty, hunger, hardship, insecurity and hopelessness across the country.” 

The statement highlighted stark contrasts in economic indicators between the current administration and past PDP governments, pointing to skyrocketing inflation and exchange rates. 

Ologunagba said, “With the Naira which exchanged for N167 to a US Dollar under the PDP administration  now exchanging for over N1,600; petrol which sold for N87 per liter under the PDP now selling for over N1,000 per liter; with nearly 40% inflation rate, over 42% youth unemployment rate, acute food shortage, frightening rise in criminality and social vices, the situation in Nigeria has become so unbearable that many talented citizens are now fleeing the country with others resorting to suicide to escape the agonies inflicted by the APC government.” 

The PDP also sounded the alarm over growing insecurity, claiming that terrorists and bandits have killed more than 600,000 Nigerians since Tinubu assumed office in May 2023.

“More troubling is that from May 2023 when President Tinubu took office, more than 600,000 Nigerians have been killed by terrorists and bandits who are emboldened by the APC administration’s apparent negligence and failure to ensure the safety and security of the nation and her citizens,” the statement read.

“In the last two years of worsened insecurity, comatose infrastructure and economic uncertainties, multinationals are leaving Nigeria in droves to neighboring countries where governments are alive to their responsibilities.”

Ologunagba criticised what the PDP called a culture of extravagance within the Tinubu administration, contrasting it with the suffering of the general populace. 

He stated, “Unfortunately, instead of listening to our Party and other well-meaning Nigerians, the Tinubu administration resorted to multiple taxes, exploitative charges and reckless foreign borrowing accumulating to N182.91 trillion (with the latest request of a fresh $24.14 billion (N38.24tn) with no corresponding development project or programme that benefits the people. 

“More distressing is that while Nigerians suffer, the APC is obsessed with turning our country into a one-Party state, while frittering the nation’s scarce resources for acquisition of jets, pricey yacht, luxury mansions, expensive foreign trips and lavish lifestyle to the chagrin of other citizens.”

The PDP called on President Tinubu to use his second anniversary address to avoid the APC’s usual resort to rhetoric and false performance claims and instead recognise that Nigerians are seriously hurting.

“The PDP once again counsels President Tinubu to recognise that Nigerians are seriously hurting. Mr. President, in his second-year anniversary address, should therefore avoid the APC's usual resort to rhetoric and false performance claims that are at variance with the realities of life in Nigeria,” the party said.

“Mr. President should take advantage of the remaining two years of his administration to redeem his image by addressing the issue of insecurity, review all suffocating policies to bring down the price of petroleum products and shore up the value of the Naira while engaging more skillful hands to manage the nation’s economy,” the party urged.

The PDP called on Nigerians “not to give up hope at this trying time but continue to rally on the platform of the PDP in preparation to vote out the APC and its woes in 2027.”