National leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has admitted that the inevitable reforms initiated by President Bola Tinubu have increased economic hardship in the country.
The APC’s national publicity secretary, Felix Morka, made the admittance in a statement yesterday, while responding to the appeal by its former national vice chairman, North West, Salihu Moh Lukman, to the opposition parties to unite and vote out the ruling party in 2027 presidential election.
While lampooning Lukman in the statement, Morka, however, argued that President Tinubu was taking bold measures to reset the country’s long broken economy, improve national security and restore the country to wholesome and sustainable development.
The APC’s spokesperson further claimed that it would have been easy and painless for President Tinubu to adopt the same measures like his predecessors and continue with business as usual, but he did not want the rot and stagnation to fester.
The ruling party, however, urged Nigerians to remain focused and undistracted by the opposition’s pettiness and disinformation, and to continue to support President Tinubu in his commitment to building greater progress and a more vibrant future for the country.
The statement read: “The same opposition parties that Lukman devoted a good number of years lampooning as inept, chronically corrupt, unpatriotic and destructive to our democracy. It takes an overdose of blinding self interest to vacillate between extremes without reason or rationality.
“In all of his painfully verbose Sisyphean letters to the Greek gods, Lukman has not explained to Nigerians why he believes in the failed opposition parties. The APC-led administration of President Tinubu is taking bold measures to reset our country’s long broken economy, improve national security and restore the country to wholesome and sustainable development.
“No doubt, these inevitable reforms have increased economic hardship for our people. In fact, the unwillingness of previous administrations to undertake these reforms and tackle the problems at their roots is the reason the economy has remained in the doldrums for a long time.
“It would be easy and painless for President Tinubu to do as his predecessors have done, continue business as usual, kick the can down the road for future administrations to deal with, while the rot and stagnation fester.
“But in keeping with the renewed hope agenda of his administration, he has chosen to tackle the country’s generational economic problems for the good of present and future generations of Nigerians.
“In the fullness of time, this President shall be vindicated for his vision and unwavering commitment to the national interest and the common good of all.
“We urge Nigerians to remain focused and undistracted by the opposition’s pettiness and disinformation, and to continue to support President Tinubu in his commitment to building greater progress and a more vibrant future for our country,” the ruling party appealed to Nigerians in the statement.
Attacking Lukman further, Morka described him as a cantankerous political rodomont, emphasising that, “Lukman’s hunger for attention is insatiable. Not even his frenzied political soliloquy in self-adulation has proved sufficient to fill his bottomless obsession for attention.
“Since his exit as a national vice chairman of the APC, Lukman has been sleepless in search of political relevance. He seems to have found for himself, for now, a new role as the chief discordant trumpeter for a cacophonous political opposition.
“In his new self-assigned role, he alleges, without substantiation, that the APC ruined the country in economic policies and corruption and called on opposition parties and Nigerians to vote out the APC in 2027. Such an empty and outlandish allegation is undeserving of any response, especially coming from a displaced political gas-lighter.
“Lukman’s history is one of opportunistic politicking, consistently prioritising his personal ego and interests over the interest of any and all institutions he has ever served. With a highly solipsistic disposition, Lukman is always right, never wrong, wallowing in his bubble of self importance, while deprecating group and national interests.
“His latest call for the opposition leaders to unite against the APC is a calculated move to cobble political relevance, divert attention from the administration’s substantial progress, and further his own selfish agenda. He is simply a cantankerous political rodomont.
“It is ludicrous to tout opposition PDP and Labour Party (LP) that cannot even manage their own internal affairs as capable of offering responsible and visionary leadership to Nigeria,” Morka quipped in the statement.