President Muhammadu Buhari has been told to use the occasion of his 78 birthday to seek forgiveness for the sins he committed against the people of South-West Nigeria, rather than going about celebrating amid over 300 children in the captivity of terrorists.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-West, which congratulated the President for reaching the age of 78, said God must have kept him so that he can have enough time to ruminate over his past misdeeds and seek restitution.

In a statement on Thursday, by the party’s Zonal Director of Media and Publicity, Lere Olayinka, President Buhari was reminded how ”he allegedly frustrated the progress of the South-West as a military head of state and abandoned the region when he was the Chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) under late General Sani Abacha and has done nothing for the region since 2015.”

The South-West PDP said one of Buhari’s major disservice to the people of the zone was the cancellation of the Lagos Metroline project embarked upon by the government of Alhaji Lateef Jakande, adding that; “The Metroline project was scrapped by Buhari at a loss of over $78 million to the Lagos taxpayers. If Buhari had not cancelled that project, transportation in Lagos would have been better than it is now.

The party said; “Today, we thank God for taking our President this far and congratulate him for attaining 78 years.

“However, it is expected that Mr President will be honest enough to see today as an opportunity to seek forgiveness for his sins, especially the ones he committed against the people of the South-West.

“It is on record that in 1984, he impounded the international passport of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and prevented him from visiting his doctors at Mayo Clinic, Rochester Minnesota, USA. The passport was only returned to him with courtesies by General Ibrahim Babangida in 1985. It was however too late as Awolowo died in 1987!

“It is also on record that with President Buhari’s directive, Chief Olabisi Onabanjo was abducted by military men while recuperating from a surgical operation at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. He was sent to Bauchi prison.

“President Buhari sent our notable leaders like Onabanjo, Jakande, Chief Michael Ajasin, Bola Ige, Chief Bisi Akande and others to jail for committing no offence other than showing commitment to the development of the region and welfare of the people.

“Curiously, in April this year, when he was granting state pardon to those he sent to jail as military Head of State, the President did not remember to extend this pardon to Chief Bisi Akande, despite being his party man and one of those who ensured his electoral victory in 2015 and 2019.

“Therefore, Mr President, as you celebrate your 78 birthday, take heed to this wise counsel and seek forgiveness from the Almighty Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) and the people you inflicted with untold sufferings, especially those in the South-West,” the statement said.