The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) on Sunday chronicled some of the alleged lies of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, which it claimed were cooked up in order to win the hearts of the people
According to the ACN in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Jonathan’s administration has continued to feed the people with propaganda, fake promises and overstated achievements even though many of the citizens are aware of the situation in the country.
The party also slammed the president’s Special Adviser on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, for making himself “a purveyor of blatant lies” and for having the temerity to denigrate the country’s opposition for criticising a non-performing government.
It added that “only a government that swims in corruption and lacks self-respect and decency can pick as its spokesperson, a man who has been shown to be an epitome of corruption by collecting funds for contracts that were not executed.”
ACN stressed that the government’s claim, through Dr. Okupe, that it will generate 780,000 jobs in 2013 using the Young Graduate Employment Scheme and 5,000 jobs in each of the 36 states using SURE-P is the latest example of the administration’s many lies.
“Our advice to the teeming young graduates who have no jobs is that they should not allow themselves to be hoodwinked by this promise,” a part of the statement read. “They should remember that this same administration promised to create 10,000 jobs in each of the 36 states through SURE-P in 2012. The year is over, and all we have now are phantom jobs and more fake promises.”
ACN urged Nigerians to ensure that their generators are in good working condition, as the government’s promise of stable electricity in 2013 is as unrealistic as it is deceitful.
“The administration said it has generated an all-time high 4,500 megawatts and will increase the number to 7,000mw in 2013. What a celebration of tokenism! In the first instance, the government should be ashamed to tell Nigerians it has been able to generate only 4,500MW from a huge expenditure of $16 billion!
“Also, no one needs a rocket scientist to know that 4,500mw cannot ensure stable electricity supply in a country of 160 million people, when South Africa, with less than a third of Nigeria’s population, generates over 40,000MW!!!
“There you have it, dear long-suffering Nigerians, don’t throw away your generators yet just because of an imaginary power stability promised by a government spokesman who has nothing but disdain for the truth.
It also faulting the government’s claim that the bombings and killings in the North have decreased from January to December, describing it as “fabricated cold comfort and a disservice to millions of our citizens who are daily being subjected to terror attacks, while President Jonathan, now a professional mourner, resorts to endless lamentation instead of decisive action.”
The statement further read: “Well, we are not surprised at the claim of reduced terror attacks by the Jonathan administration. After all, the same administration claimed that global anti-corruption body, Transparency International, acknowledged Nigeria’s progress in fighting corruption, when nothing like that ever happened.
“To set the record straight, 750 people have been killed in terror attacks in the North this year, a figure higher than about 570 who were killed in 2011, and not counting the latest killings in Borno and Adamawa States.”
It said that after such admittance, the government should “roll up its sleeves, so to say, to reverse the ‘transmogrification’ which the president’s Transformation Agenda has become, instead of relying on a hypocritical spokesman to peddle lies to citizens who are already reeling under the failure of an impotent government.
