The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday described the blueprint presented by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the British House of Commons by leader of the opposition group, Bola Tinubu as a basket of empty shells.
It also described the event itself as an attempt to deodorize the stench of inadequacies that have dogged the yet to be registered party.
“It was a letdown yesterday as the leader of the ACN, Bola Tinubu stunned an international audience with the emptiness he unveiled as the emancipation package of the APC,” National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh wrote in a statement.
“It is an agenda grossly lacking in essentials, in fundamentals; deep in cosmetics, devoid of originality, laced with half-truths and outright lies and grittily divorced from the substance and incidentals that ginger national growth. It is a basket of promise filled with shells. Nothing exposed the un-seriousness of Tinubu’s presentation than his loud silence on corruption and the alternative roadmap to the extant security challenges, which the opposition coalition has made so much noise about.
“Members of the British parliament must have giggled and waited in vain for Mr. Tinubu to unveil the much vaunted opposition agenda on anti- terrorism and corruption. Is it that the APC has no answers to these or that Tinubu deliberately skipped them?
“Here, curious minds reflect on two things. The PDP led Federal Government has applied the master strategy that is already yielding results; thus leaving the opposition bereft of fresh, better dimension as an alternative or that the man who appeared in the British House of Commons is the least qualified to speak on corruption and terrorism before such a self respecting and well meaning assembly with an in-depth grip on happenings in Nigeria.”
According to the ruling party, the ACN leader has unsettled issues of corruption and questionable credentials while it is obvious to all Nigerians that the leaders of the opposition are the chief promoters of insurgency in the country. It added that Tinubu’s voyage of ridicule turned full circle as in his entourage was also the speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly — a man currently standing trial for acts of corruption. It wondered how the delegation could have made a presentation on corruption?
Writing further, the PDP official stated: “On the issue of national social security, the ruling party wondered why the states under the opposition have not been implementing it if it is such a laudable programme; knowing that under Nigeria’s federalism, the states suffer no restriction over such matters.
“Why is the opposition waiting to get to the centre before implementing this? Why did Tinubu not implement this as Lagos State Governor for eight years? Why are the six ACN states over which Tinubu is the overlord not implementing this? Promises are easily made.
“If Tinubu as Lagos Governor denied workers wage increment and denied pensioners the benefits of decades of service, how could the APC government which he canvasses take care of the aged and the vulnerable under the social security programme? Nigerians need eggs no doubt but not their empty shells!
“Similarly, the school feeding programme which the APC paraded as one of its cardinal agenda is in fact a programme under various stages of implementation since it was launched in September 2005 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. In fact, some of the PDP states have gone beyond meal-a-day to other accompaniments that make learning easy for the Nigerian child.”
According to the PDP, “While Tinubu was in the UK unfolding the opposition agenda on education, teachers in Ogun, an opposition state, locked the classrooms and chased school children home in strike over lingering issues of service. In Ekiti and Osun states also under the ACN, strikes have been the order of school curriculum for over a year now. Who then takes the opposition serious?”
PDP reminded Tinubu that the same international community before which he tried to demonize Nigerian electoral process had adjudged the 2011 general elections as the most credible in the history of the country. It recalled that Jonathan was in Edo State prior to the election won by Tinubu’s party to assure the people of credible poll and delivered same.
“Tinubu’s sermon on credible election and the state of democracy in Nigeria flies in the face of consistent knockings of the shenanigans that play out in the opposition states as local government elections.
“What then is credible election? Who listens to the hyperactive lies of the Nigerian opposition than those of their hue who already know they don’t have the structures and the unity (already seen in wide division APC leadership slots) to win the 2015 general elections and are therefore fashioning out reasons well ahead of time.
“We once more challenge the opposition to a debate on the alternative roadmap to what the PDP led Federal Government is doing at present. With an empirical comparison of the pace of development at the centre and the states under the opposition on one hand and these states against those under the PDP on the other, Nigerians are no doubt a better judge of who enjoys their mandate in 2015.”
Earlier ACN Leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his presentation before the British House of Commons, revealed how the APC would sacrifice personal political ambition to deepen democracy instead of the current administration’s disregard for votes, evidenced by the controversies that have followed the recent election of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF).
He promised that APC would combat poverty, saying it would pursue an aggressive plan to lift at least 20 per cent of Nigerians living in poverty out of that level in its first four years. He also expressed assurance that APC would oust President Gooodluck Jonathan from the Presidency in the 2015 general elections.
“I do not support the Jonathan government but I oppose anyone seeking its premature, illegal end. Let this government end at the appointed time. But let it end through the ballot box. Then I shall say good riddance,” he said.
“The central focus of our efforts in the coming years must be the implementation of the most extensive and aggressive plan to lift as many Nigerians out of poverty as possible. Our desire is to be able to move at least 20% of our people out of poverty (defined as earning less than a dollar a day) in the first four years of our administration.
“Besides fast-tracking the construction of Independent Power Plants, IPPs, in designated industrial zones, the APC government would also initiate the construction of trans-state highways, such as the speed train that will connect the nation’s zones and move people, fuel, farm produce and goods, cost-efficiently across the country.”
On APC’s propose national social security scheme, he said: “First, we intend to establish a partly contributory National Social Security Scheme. Some categories of the poor and vulnerable will benefit with or without contribution. We believe that every Nigerian above the age of 60 who is not under a pension scheme and also qualifies as poor by a ‘Means Test’ must be given a monthly stipend. Widows and the disabled proved by a ‘Means Test’ to be poor must also be provided a monthly stipend whenever they are unemployed. They become disentitled when they are employed.
“An important component of state intervention to redress poverty is the one meal a day programme for primary and secondary school pupils. The Federal government through supplemental funding will support States in providing Primary and Secondary school pupils with at least one meal a day. The immediate twin derivatives of this programme is the design to confront the extremely high incidence of malnutrition and other hunger-induced medical conditions amongst poor children as well as eliminating the recruiting grounds for illegal activities.
“Also, the programme will stimulate demand thereby boosting local businesses in poultry, bakery and juice and packing industries. This will employ millions of graduates and non-graduates. Then, we can start to talk truly about the dividends of not just democracy but of impactful leadership.”
“In Nigeria, the tenets of basic arithmetic have little application concerning elections. Votes do not count, they are concocted. Elections are not necessarily won by the candidate with the highest votes. Elections are won by the candidate of the powerful and mighty. Consequently, a group comprising all the nations’ governors could not even conduct a simple 35-person election without a disputed outcome.
“This little episode would be laughable if it were an isolated incident. However, it is emblematic of a larger, more troubling pattern that portends calamity if not arrested. With this recent experience, I fear the length of those in power would go and the means they would employ to manipulate results when the battleground is the entire nation and the stakes are the general elections in 2015. The NGF debacle symbolizes a disdain for democracy and the popular will. If we are to save Nigeria, we must rescue the electoral process from its abusers.”
Tinubu promised that APC would introduce electronic voting, which has been well-accepted and practised in many African countries; and as well halt the current government’s culture of corruption.
“This current Nigerian government is a retrogressive one. Much of what they claim as growth is but the harsh redistribution of wealth from the bottom to the top. The bottom gets squeezed while the top expands. They are serving us the salad of corruption. They consume our today and squander the nation’s tomorrow. For 14 years, the PDP-led government cannot turn anything around. A new leadership is required to put a stop to this,” he went on.
“Our people live in dire straits. But this government would rather waste the money than spend it on the public benefit. They do not believe the people are worth it.
The money is more important. They claim to be hoarding it for that mythical rainy day, when most Nigerians are drowning in poverty. If that is not troubled waters, I don’t know what new calamity will make this government ever recognize the need to build the new bridges needed for the people to cross over into prosperity.
“I have said this before and I shall say it again. These leaders would rather save the money and spend the people. We progressives would rather spend the money to save the people.
“It is for this reason- to save the nation from the stranglehold of permanent poverty and poor governance – that the members of the progressive opposition political parties have decided to put aside personal ambition (including my own ambition) to form a new party, the All Progressives Congress, APC. We do this because Nigeria has entered a critical state of economic depression.”
