“In Nigeria today, we have 30 governors in the APC, three in the PDP, one in Accord, one in Labour Party, and one in APGA,”
By Olawale Lamina
The National Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Ajibola Bashiru has condemned protest by opposition parties against the newly amended Electoral Act, saying the reaction was based on “loss of privilege” and not out of genuine concern for the welfare of the citizens.
Sen. Bashiru stated this on Friday while addressing journalists after a meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the State House, Abuja.
He said that opposition parties, led by the African Democratic Congress, ADC, and the New Nigeria People’s Party ,NNPP, were unhappy because the Tinubu administration had thwarted channels which he alleged paved the way through which “some people were milking Nigeria dry.”
He argued that they were neither crying for the average Nigerian people nor crying for the development of the people.
“They were crying because of loss of privilege, loss of opportunity to continue to plunder the resources of the Nigerian people,” the APC scribe stated against the Thursday protest by the opposition on Thursday.
According to the party’s national secretary, President Tinubu’s reforms over the past two and a half years had meaningfully reduced corruption and revenue leakages.
He stressed that since then, the growth of the “nation’s foreign reserves from about $3 billion to $49 billion did not come out of the blues, it’s not magic. It’s because all those cesspool of corruption have actually been blocked”,
Sen. Bashiru also alleged that those who benefited from the petroleum subsidy regime were among those resisting current reforms.
“The petroleum subsidy profiteers were also part of them, and that’s why they were crying. But as they were crying, Nigerian people are happy because our country is getting better economically,” Bashiru stated.
He added that key economic indices point to improvement, pointing out that a reduction in food inflation from about 35 per cent to 15 per cent and a stronger performance of the national currency are yielding good benefits for Nigerians. He castigated opposition leaders pushing for the cancellation of the amended Electoral Act, saying that they are lacking in both electoral mandate and legislative authority.
He advised political opposition to focus their energies on grassroots mobilisation rather than public protests on what had been duly attended to be elected representatives of the people.
He said: “They should go back to the trenches, they should go back to the Nigerian people and sell, if they have anything remaining in terms of credibility for them, to get electoral viability.”
Bashiru explained his meeting with the President which he said was centered around party’s internal issues especially the recently concluded ward and local government congresses, in addition to preparations for state congresses slated for next week.
He noted that the ruling party has continued to wax stronger based on the growing numbers of state governors defecting to the party.
“In Nigeria today, we have 30 governors in the APC, three in the PDP, one in Accord, one in Labour Party, and one in APGA,” Bashiru said.
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