Rice Claims: Resign, Apologise, PDP Tells Audu Ogbeh

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has charged the Minister of
Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, to immediately toe the path of honour and
resign for portraying Nigeria as a lying nation and bringing her to
international opprobrium by deliberately falsifying claims relating to
Nigeria’s relationship with Thailand.

The party said the whole world was shocked when the ambassador of
Thailand to Nigeria, Wattana Kuwongse, publicly denied ever informing
Chief Ogbeh that major rice mills were shutting down in Thailand as a
result of drop in importation of rice by Nigeria as claimed by the
minister.

PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement on
Friday, said the development has further dragged down the image of the
nation which the APC-led administration has wrecked in the last three
years.


The party said the minister had neither clarified his claims nor offered
any explanation for the heavy embarrassment he has caused the nation
adding that such has placed a heavy moral burden on him and the Federal
Government.

The PDP also wondered why President Muhammadu Buhari, as Africa Union
Anti-Corruption Champion, has not taken any action to redeem the image
of the nation, after the ugly development.


It is clear that the intention of the APC-led Federal Government was to
use the Minister of Agriculture to mislead Nigerians into believing that
the Buhari-led administration has achieved national self-sufficiency in
food production; a stunt which fell flat on its face and brought the
nation into international ridicule.

Nigerians will recall that the same minister, last year, programmed the
exporting of rotten yams and brought the country into international
disrepute, all in the desperate bid of APC interests to score cheap
political points and push their ill-lucked 2019 re-election bid.


Earlier this week, President Buhari’s handlers made the nation a
laughing stock in the international arena when they railroaded the
President into offering to help Ghana in the fight against corruption,
when back at home, the APC controlled Federal government is an ocean of
corruption and false claims.

This is a government where officials deliberately issue false security
assurances, particularly in the northeast region, making the people
vulnerable to attacks.


Nigerians have not forgotten how this government lied that it had
recovered the abducted Dapchi girls only the report to turn false and
frustrated prompt effort that would have led to the recovery of our
daughters.

Nigerians have seen that the hallmark of the APC-led Federal Government
is falsehood, deception and lies but they are shocked that Government
officials could invent and peddle bare-faced lies in the international
arena.


Nigerians can now see the weight of our earlier caution to always
cross-check any information or performance indices issued to them by the
Presidency or officials of the APC government no matter how highly
placed.

We therefore charge the Minister of Agriculture to toe the path of
honour and immediately resign and tender and unreserved apology to
Nigerians.

The fact remains that our nation cannot continue to run on a government
where officials function as peddlers of falsehood and lies.