By Dirisu Yakubu, ABUJA

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Wednesday, said the report by the World Bank that seven million Nigerians have been pushed into poverty in the past one year, has belied the integrity posturing of President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress, APC.

This is as the party taunted President Buhari for his recent claim that his administration has lifted 10 million Nigerians out of poverty in the past two years.

In a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP noted that the report by the World Bank has further vindicated its position that President Buhari “runs an uncoordinated and clueless administration that thrives on lies, false performance claims, deceit and perfidious propaganda.”

The statement read: “Nigerians can now clearly see why the APC and President Buhari’s handlers are always in a frenzy to attack our party and other well-meaning Nigerians whenever we point to the poor handling of the economy and on the need for President Buhari to always be factual on pertinent issues of governance in our country.

READ ALSO: Rise in Prices push 7m additional Nigerians into Poverty – World Bank

“Unfortunately, it indeed appears that Mr. President enjoys living in denial while watching millions of Nigerians go down in abject poverty, excruciating hunger and starvation as our country now ranks 98th out of 107 in Global Hunger Index under his watch.

“Otherwise why would Mr. President claim that his administration has lifted over 10.5 million Nigerians out of poverty?

“Official figures even from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, show worsening poverty rate with 142.2 per cent growth in food inflation and over 82.9 million Nigerians being unable to afford their daily meals due to the failure of the administration to take practical steps to grow and protect the food sector?

“Under President Buhari, Nigerians are now subjected to the worst form of poverty and hardship, with collapsed purchasing power, occasioned by a voodoo economy management that have wrecked our productive sectors and pummeled our naira from the about N167 to a US dollar in 2015 to the current over N500 per dollar.

“It is unfortunate that Mr. President will choose to always bandy fictitious figures and false performance claims, when he has, in a space of six years, destroyed our national productivity and reduced our country to a beggarly nation, a laughing stock and object of pity among the comity of nations.

“The PDP invites Nigerians to note President Buhari and APC’s similar false performance claims in other critical sectors, including power, transportation, road infrastructure, health, education, agriculture, security, aviation among others, where the Buhari administration has been bandying fictitious figures with no tangible project to point at.

“Our party counsels President Buhari, his handlers as well as their party, the APC, to note that Nigerians have seen through their deceitful clams.

“The PDP, once again, urges Mr. President to end his false performance claims and get more competent hands to manage the economy before every Nigerian is turned into a street beggar.”

Vanguard News Nigeria