- Asks Buhari to Quit For Younger Generation
By Abdul Rahman Aliagan
The National Chairman of Labour Party, LP, Dr Mike Omotosho has described the Buhari led-All Progressives Congress (APC) administration as a disaster, maintaining that the administration performed very poor and far below Nigerians’ expectations. He urged President Buhari to drop his second term bid in the interest of Nigerians as people and Nigeria as a nation.
Omotosho stated this in a statement he made available to selected Journalists, saying that Buhari should yield the ground for the younger generation of Nigerians to administer the country.
LP Chairman described the last three years of the Buhari-led administration as a disaster, arguing that the vast majority of Nigerians have been reduced to paupers due to poor governance.
Omotosho made reference to the recurring farmers, herdsmen clashes and the low value of the naira against foreign currencies to advance his claims, as he urged the citizenry to give the LP an opportunity to administer the country in 2019.
According to him, “The three years of the APC and President Buhari’s mandate have, in all honesty, and by all empirical statistics, reduced the vibrant and energetic people of Nigeria to paupers.”
LP scribe added that Buhari may have given his best as a Nigerian but the reality of time coupled with old age has practically make him ineffective.
“President Buhari may have given his best, but the encumbrances of old age may have conspired to deny him the energy, tact and strategy needed to extricate the nation from economic doldrums.”
He however advised the president and his colleagues in the old brigade to quit the stage for young men and women.
“This is because the indices of a deteriorating economy, the fast disappearing business environment predicated on poor policy formulation and unimaginative interpretation of economic variables, have produced unenviable records for the Nigerian citizens, who are today grappling with job losses, poor per capital income as a result of which about 6 million people are said to have lost their jobs in the last three years.
“The grim consequence of the poor response to the challenges facing Nigeria saw the naira plunge into a weak currency hovering between 360 and 365 to a dollar.
The inflation rate, though dropping in recent months, had remained precariously at 13.3 per cent according to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics.
“The GDP growth is 0.8 per cent which makes the economy very fragile, for a country, in which annual population growth rate is 3.2 per cent even as the Nigerian Population Commission had just released a report that the nation is now 198 million people.
“Foreign Direct Investment, which was $14.5 billion four years ago is now less than $7 billion, industrial capacity has also gone down in the last three years and incapacitated the manufacturing sector, which triggered the job losses.”
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari before leaving the country for United Kingdom, UK on official visit declared his intention to contest for the second term in office, come 2019 general elections.
Some Nigerians welcomed President Muhammadu Buhari’s declaration of his second term bid. But others too, especially members of the opposition political parties, have criticised the move that the president would not find it easy going for second term.
Former Vice President and and all time Presidential Aspirant, Abubakar Atiku jostling for ticket under PDP for 2019 Presidential election.
The former Vice President, Abubakar Atiku had said he was not moved by Buhari’s second term bid, he made it known through Atiku Abubakar Grassroots Ambassadors of Nigeria.
Mr Ferguson Okpala, the group’s National President, Said the Atiku movement is not moved by the announcement and noted that the opposition must nominate the right candidate if it wished to have a robust contest in the next election.
According to him, “For us, the decision of President Buhari to seek re-election is a good one, and it is his personal decision and right, nobody should deny him that.
“But we are not worried about that, it is even good for us because we know one of our likely opponents. Nigerians are wise enough to elect the leader they want.”
He added, “What we are waiting for now is for the PDP to do the right thing by giving Atiku the Presidential’s ticket because he is the only one who has the reach, credibility and capacity to face Buhari in the general elections.”
Malam Ahmed Makarfi, former National Caretaker Committee Chairman of the People Democratic Party (PDP), quoted saying that “It’s no news that he is contesting, it would have been news if he had announced the opposite.”
Malam Ahmed Makarfi, former Governor of Kaduna State and formerNational Caretaker Committee Chairman of the People Democratic Party (PDP) is also eyeing the plum position of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
Also, the former Governor of Kaduna State Balarabe Musa welcomed the decision by President Muhammadu Buhari to seek re-election in 2019.
Musa, a chieftain of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) said that his party would, however, come up with a strong candidate to challenge Buhari in the elections.
“President Muhammadu Buhari is welcome on board, but we want to assure Nigerians that the PRP has a presidential candidate to field in the 2019 general elections,” he said.
In a chat with Journalists, Sidi Ali, Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Sokoto State, said, “Buhari has all it takes to re-contest and the decision is a welcome development.
“He is governing well and has the capacity to continue with the good work, and I am sure more good transformations will happen in the country, if he is re-elected.
“We will support him fully because he is the only candidate that has been good to Nigerians,” he said.
Time Nigeria in a telephone chat with Barr Chukwumezie Omolomo, a legal Practitioner and social activist said that, President Buhari is a good leader but age is no longer in his side. He added that there is a limit at which he can naturally go.
“Buhari is a good leader but in recognition of his age and health status he should have rested, as he had spent most time during this tenure on medical treatment abroad.” Omolomo said.
The Sokoto state Secretary of PDP, Kabiru Aliyu, said Nigerians should vote out the APC or prepare for “another four years of hunger.”
“Buhari’s age and health condition are all in Allah’s hand, but what is more of concern is good governance and ability to transform the country better.
“Nigerians should vote PDP to avoid continuous hunger and maladministration that subject people to hardships,” Mr. Aliyu said.
In Nigeria’s political permutations, member of the governing party has been seen holding talks, cuddling Mr President immediately after the declaration, notable among them is the National Leader of the APC, Senator Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu met the President Buhari met behind closed doors in London.
The president’s Personal Assistant on Social Media, Alhaji Bashir Ahmad, made this known on his tweeter handle, @BashirAhmad, in Abuja. He did not give details of the meeting.
“President Muhammadu Buhari receives national leader of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (Jagaba) today in London,’’ he twitted.
Buhari, earlier on Wednesday met with the Archbishop of Canterbury, His Grace Justin Welby in London where he gave reasons for declaring his intention to run for another term in office.
“I declared before leaving home because Nigerians were talking too much about whether I would run or not. So, I felt I should break the ice.
We have many things to focus on, like security, agriculture, economy and anti-corruption crusade. We needed to concentrate on them, and politics should not be a distraction.
“The majority of Nigerians appreciate what we are doing, and that is why I am re-contesting,’’ Buhari told the archbishop.
While in Britain, the president is billed to hold discussions on Nigeria-British relations with the UK Prime Minister, Mrs. Theresa May, prior to the Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings scheduled for April 18 to 20.
A presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, had earlier disclosed that “The President will also meet the Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Plc, Mr. Ben van Beurden, in connection with Shell and other partners’ plan to invest $15 billion in Nigeria’s oil industry.”
Also at the weekend, Buhari declared that his administration would do its best to justify the confidence and trust that Nigerians reposed in it.
He said wicked people plundered the country and kept Nigerians poor.
The president spoke in London yesterday while receiving the Buhari Diaspora Support Organisation, led by Mr. Charles Efe Sylvester.
“We will do our best to justify your trust in us, and that confidence won’t be abused. I am happy that people like you are here, on your own, defending the country. You have shown courage and sacrifice. I assure you that your confidence in us won’t be abused, we will do our best to justify it,” Buhari said.
He noted that Nigeria was gifted with tremendous human and natural resources, but expressed regret that “failure of some of the leadership we had in the past led to our not being able to capitalise on resources to improve the lot of the people.”
A statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, yesterday quoted Buhari as saying that the damage done to the Nigerian economy in the years of plunder was massive, and that government was doing its best to recover some of the loot, but noted that it was impossible to identify and recover all.
“If they had used 50 per cent of the money we made, when oil prices went as high as $143 per barrel, and stabilised at $100 with production at 2.1 million barrels per day for many years, Nigerians would have minded their businesses. You could almost grow food on our roads, as they were abandoned.
The stealing was so much, and they were so inept that they could not even cover the stealing properly. I wonder how all those things could have happened to our country,” the president lamented.
The coordinator of the group, Sylvester, said: “You met a difficult situation, but you have overcome most of them. We are happy with the revolution in the agricultural sector, the ease of doing business, the anti-corruption war, the employment of youths through the N-Power programme, and the blockage of leakages in the public sector through the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
“We are proud of the speed with which you recovered the abducted Dapchi schoolgirls. It shows you as a worthy general. We are happy that you have declared for 2019. The majority of Nigerians are happy, but agents of corruption and darkness are unhappy.”
The embattled Senator Ovie Omo-Agege who was recently suspended by the Leadership of the Senate
Without an iota of doubt, Buhari’s second term bid did not went down well with some of the members of the governing party, particularly at the National Assembly where the declaration has stirred the hornet nest, as those who are perceived to be playing Buhari’s card are made to face the consequences, as the suspension again been slammed on Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, after that of Ali Ndume, as the drama is just starting more is expected.
