The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says President Muhammadu Buhari’s assertion that the 2018 budget which he signed on Wednesday will be unimplementable as a clear admission that he lacks the capacity and competence to run a development-oriented economy.

In a statement released on Thursday and signed by its national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party charged the National Assembly to ensure strict implementation of the budget.

The party said Nigerians and the business community worldwide were stunned when the President, in his speech while signing the budget, exhibited ignorance of the dynamics of international best practices in macroeconomics management.

The statement read in part: “President Buhari, in picking holes on items that would directly impact on economic productivity, infrastructural advancement, rural development as well as those that would provide urgent palliatives to the plights of Nigerians, shows his aversion to developmental economy as well as insensitivity to the welfare of our citizens.

“In fact, President Buhari, in his comments on the budget has further de-marketed our economy before international investors, thereby worsening our woes as a nation.

“How on earth can a President, if indeed he loves the people, quarrel over budgetary items seeking to cushion the biting effect of the economic recession, particularly for the poor, who are the direct victims of the harsh policies of his incompetent administration?

“Furthermore, President Buhari’s resort to blaming the National Assembly for his inability to exert himself as a leader and ensure smooth implementation of the budget, further shows that he cares little about the actual needs of the people, having holed in himself in the comfort, security and pleasures of the Presidential villa.”

The party therefore called on Nigerians to save the nation from what it called official lethargy by rallying on the platform of ‘a repositioned PDP’ and vote out President Buhari during the 2019 presidential polls.