PDP demands minister of agriculture’s resignation over rice claims

PDP demands minister of agriculture’s resignation over rice claims

- The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged the minister of agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, to resign for allegedly portraying Nigeria as a lying nation

- The opposition party is asking the minister to apologise to Nigerians after making false claims on Thailand closing down its rice mills

- PDP national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the development dragged down the image of the nation which the APC-led administration has wrecked

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged Audu Ogbeh, the minister of agriculture, to apologise to the people and resign after falsifying claims on Thailand shutting down its rice mills as a result of drop in importation of rice by Nigeria

PDP's national publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement on Friday, March 9, said Ogbeh should ”immediately toe the path of honour and resign for portraying Nigeria as a lying nation.”

The minister had claimed that a Thailand diplomat told him that President Muhammadu Buhari’s policy of reducing importation of rice and encouraging local production led to the ”collapse of seven rice mills in Thailand.”

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Read the statement below:

"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, March 9, 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."

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In a previous report by Legit.ng, Thailand’s ambassador to Nigeria Wattana Kunwongse condemned a claim reportedly made by the minister of agriculture and rural development Audu Ogbeh that Thailand accused Nigeria of being responsible for the collapse of its seven rice mills following the drastic fall in rice importation from the country.

Premium Times reports that Kunwongse described the minister’s claim as “misleading and a distortion of the actual discussion that transpired between them”.

Ebonyi state, Nigeria and West Africa's food capital on Legit.ng TV:

Source: Legit.ng

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