Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Adetokunbo Pearse, has accused the National Assembly of abandoning its constitutional responsibilities and operating solely in the interest of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Speaking during an interview on ARISE News, Dr. Pearse declared: “The National Assembly we have now is a rubber stamp assembly. All they do, whatever the president wants, the president gets. Any president who wants to manipulate the National Assembly can do so. And this one is actually manipulating it to the best of his own ability and to the detriment of progress for Nigerians and security for Nigerians.”
He further launched a scathing attack on the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, insisting that he is unfit to lead the legislature. According to him: “Akpabio should not be president of the Senate. He’s a criminal, he shouldn’t be there. He has cases in the EFCC, millions that he stole when he was governor. And then the court convicted him… There’s no way that a man like that should be there in the first place.”
Dr. Pearse also dismissed President Tinubu’s Independence Day remarks, describing them as deceptive and detached from reality. He stated: “The truth of the matter is, when the president said hardship is over, I think it is reckless and irresponsible. Look, we are going through hardship. Things are not better. Things are going from bad to worse.”
He noted that while the president avoided the traditional military parade in Abuja, the greater concern lay in his message to Nigerians. “In that speech, however, I see a lot of falsehood, you know, manipulation of facts and figures.”
On the broader state of the nation, Dr. Pearse stressed that Nigeria cannot make meaningful progress under the current framework. He argued: “If you look at what most observers have been saying, they’ve been consistent in saying that the 1999 constitution is a fabrication of the military. It does not represent democracy or growth. It has stifled our growth economically. It has made security worse. We have to restructure Nigeria. We have to review totally that 1999 constitution before we begin to make progress.”
He emphasised the need to return to the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference: “If we do not go back to that CONFAB, we don’t need another national CONFAB. That recommendation is there. No need to waste time, energy, and money.”
The PDP chieftain warned that Nigeria was sliding into a dangerous zone due to insecurity and lack of state policing. “We are drifting into a failed state regarding our security. Look at what happened to this young lady in Abuja… Our system had broken down. We have not addressed these things since 1999.”
He lamented the absence of effective policing: “Can you walk anywhere in Nigeria and see police on the street except when they’re collecting toll, when they’re harassing people for money in traffic? We don’t have security.”
On current governance, Dr. Pearse maintained that President Tinubu has not implemented any meaningful reforms. “I don’t see anything positive. President Tinubu is playing games with Nigeria. Everything he does is superficial.”
He ridiculed the decision to rename the National Theatre after Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka: “This naming National Theater after Wole Soyinka is a farce. You do not name a national monument after any individual. If you want to give Soyinka a befitting tribute, build a monument for him. But this is a joke. The whole thing is a charade.”
He also criticised the government’s approach to fuel subsidy removal, contrasting it with former President Goodluck Jonathan’s approach. “Jonathan wanted to remove fuel subsidy. And when he did remove fuel subsidy, what did he do? He brought in Shopee to reduce the negative impact on the removal of subsidy. What did Bola Ahmed Tinubu do? When he removed subsidy? Palliatives. How many people? Where would that go?”
Despite the challenges facing his own party, Dr. Pearse insisted that the PDP remains Nigeria’s best hope. “It is a battered party, it’s not a defeated party. It’s going through a lot of stuff… That gave me the confidence to say that we are moving in the right direction.”
He highlighted upcoming plans to elect new party executives: “We are now going into a national convention to elect a new set of national working committee members from national chairman all the way down. Once we have that, we are now moving toward the presidential next year.”
Positioning PDP against APC, he concluded: “The PDP is the most democratic party in Nigeria today. And there are only two political parties in Nigeria today, the APC and the PDP. And the APC has demonstrated what it can do — a total failure. So therefore, the only choice left for people in Nigeria now is the PDP.”
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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