* President offering excuses, says PDP

* 'Buhari is Nigeria's hope for progress'

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described as "evasive, diversionary and preemptive, the present government's pile up of excuses for possible failure in delivering on its campaign promises to Nigerians." Meanwhile, Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed has said due to the ?prevailing challenges facing the country, only leaders with the temperament, disposition and candour of President Muhammadu Buhari can see Nigeria through the woods.

The PDP said it was unfortunate that Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC), who were allegedly privy to the nation’s dwindling economy occasioned by global economic downturn and fall in international oil price, even before the start of the campaigns, chose to deceive Nigerians with bogus promises, only to now resort to excuses after using the promises to secure power at the center.

National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement yesterday, said the party noted with dismay, Buhari's statement on Monday that Nigerians should not expect much from his first 100 days in office on claims that he met "virtually an empty treasury and huge debts", noting that such only underlines the fact that the current administration is really not equipped to face the challenges of governance.

"While we restate our resolve to engage only in credible and issue -based opposition, we want the President and the APC to note that their plea for patience from Nigerians does not arise, because, ab-initio, there has not been any indication that they are actually serious and determined to deliver on their campaign promises upon which they rode to power.

"Of course Nigerians are willing to support and cooperate with the President, but we are worried that the pictures emerging from his presidency and his party do not in any way inspire hope in the citizenry, especially as they have continued to show that theirs is ostensibly a matter of obtaining power by false pretense.

"President Buhari and the APC must know that Nigerians did not give them the mandate to engage in frivolous excuses and pleas but to hit the ground running with solutions and quick fixes they promised during the campaigns.

"We ask: is President Buhari's statement an admission of poor knowledge of national and international economic affairs or does it underscore the lack of capacity and skills by the administration to effectively harness and galvanize resources and potential inherent in Nigeria which has already been nurtured as Africa’s largest economy and one of the fasted growing in the world?

"Even if Nigerians decide to wait endlessly, we wonder how much the President can achieve amidst the flip-flops from his presidency and cacophony of interests from his party leaders struggling to enlarge their selfish political and economic frontiers. How can one reconcile President Buhari’s statement with the recent ridiculous and misleading claim by APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, that this administration has achieved in three weeks what the immediate past administration did not achieve in five years? Since after their electoral victory, the APC and the President have continued to expose their lack of commitment towards their campaign promises."

The PDP recalled that "on May 5, 2015, twenty-four days before his inauguration, President Buhari, at a meeting with APC leaders in Abuja opened the excuse galore when he expressed his nervousness to deliver in office, adducing that ‘Rome was not built in a day."

"We also recall that in their attempt to find an escape route in one of their bogus campaign promises, the APC denied that the President ever promised Nigerians that they will end insurgency two months after inauguration, but had to swallow their words after the PDP confronted them with the April 22, 2015 CNN interview where Buhari made that promise.

"Indeed, we empathize with the President, knowing that the confusion and clear lack of direction in his party have not helped matters, but we urge him to rise to the challenge, take urgent steps and disentangle himself from the selfish and unpatriotic tendencies of APC leaders, especially given the fact that Nigerians gave him a mandate for which they will continue to hold him accountable."

Governor Ahmed, in a statement on the state of the nation, described the "administrative strategy of deep and wide consultation, critical appraisal of divergent views on salient issues which are hallmarks of inclusive governance that President Buhari has employed so far" as the best for the country in the prevailing circumstances.