The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has accused President Bola Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress, APC, government of pushing Nigerians to their death in the recent stampedes.
PDP described the recent food stampede deaths in the country as an ugly testament of the “alarming level of misery, poverty, hunger, starvation, sense of hopelessness and desperation for survival currently plaguing Nigeria under the overtly insensitive, corrupt and rudderless Tinubu-led APC government”.
The party lamented the stampede in Oyo, Anambra and the FCT, which claimed the lives of about 60 vulnerable citizens including children.
According to PDP, the desperate struggle for food is a result of the pervasive hunger in the land occasioned by the anti-people policies of the APC administration.
Parts of a statement by PDP’s spokesman, Debo Ologunagba, read: “The PDP is devastated that the APC-led administration has wrecked our once thriving economy and pushed millions of Nigerians deeper into abject poverty and hunger with many citizens, not being able to afford their daily meals, now resorting to suicide and desperate measures including slavery mission abroad and fighting for crumbs for survival.
“It is heartbreaking that despite our abundant resources as a nation, Nigerians have been subjected to agonizing life where they die struggling for food.
“This horrifying situation in the country further confirms the APC as a party of “political vampires and buccaneers” who have no iota of regard for human life but rather derive pleasure in the suffering and death of citizens including innocent children.
“Only this explains why the APC administration continues in arrogant false performance claims including empty assurances of food sufficiency while deliberately failing to make the required investments to boost the productive sector, particularly in agriculture and food production.
“This also explains why the APC administration has rejected all advice and suggestions by the PDP and other well-meaning Nigerians to review the hasty implementation of the suffocating policies of abrupt increase in the price of petroleum products and the floating of the Naira, despite the crippling consequences on the productive sector and life-discounting effect on the citizenry.
“More provoking is that instead of deploying the nation’s resources for the wellbeing of the people, the APC leaders are engaged in massive looting through direct pillaging of government vaults, budget padding, contract inflation, oil subsidy scam, palliative racketeering and phony programmes which have no benefit to the lives of the citizens.”
The opposition party called on Nigerians to hold the Tinubu-led APC administration responsible for the remote cause of “these tragic occurrences for which it must recompense.”
Ologunagba added: “Our Party insists that any administration that is sensitive and cares for the people would have since introduced intervention programmes to ease the suffering and improve on the welfare of the masses which is the primary purpose of government.
“For the umpteenth time, the PDP demands the immediate review of all the suffocating economic and tax policies of the APC administration which are bringing misery and death to Nigerians daily.”
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Is Anthony Odiong still a priest after life in prison sentence over rape?")
