There is no hope in sight for Nigerians under the APC government

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has lamented that after a year of rule by the All Progressives Congress (APC) under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, there is no hope for Nigerians.

The party expressed this in a statement assessing the performance of the ruling party last year, saying the period was the most difficult in Nigeria’s history since the civil war.

A statement released by the main opposition party on Tuesday by the National Spokesperson, Debo Ologunagba, stressed that the current growing insecurity, dire poverty, economic difficulties and general gloom in the country are necessitating the flight of thousands of Nigerians, especially youths from Nigeria, further affirmed that “there is no sight of hope when an armored personnel carrier sits on the saddle.”

The party added: “It is clear that inflicting pain and misery on Nigerians remains the main policy of successive APC administrations, which has been reinforced by the ill-conceived twin anti-people policies of abolition of fuel subsidy and abolition of naira without due regard to the welfare and security of citizens.

“As if this was not enough, the APC administration continues its anti-people policies by arbitrarily increasing electricity tariffs and imposing multiple taxes on already impoverished Nigerians, without corresponding concrete development geared towards the welfare of the people.

“The consequences of these ill-conceived and poorly implemented policies without any mitigating measures to alleviate the resulting rising costs and associated hardships for the masses have led many people to premature death and extreme poverty.

“The continued use of poverty as a weapon of mass destruction by the APC is responsible for the widespread despondency in the country where people are only concerned with survival and show no interest in government policies and activities, which is largely discouraging them.

“It is shocking that even though the Federal Government has announced the removal of fuel subsidies, forcing Nigerians to pay more for fuel, trillions of naira are reportedly still being paid as fuel subsidies into private bank accounts linked to corrupt APC leaders.

“Unfortunately, the APC, in its insensitivity and disregard for the people, is yet to settle the bill for Nigerians in terms of expected savings accruing to the Federation account as a result of the announced removal of fuel subsidy.

“Instead of addressing the grave economic challenges facing our nation, the APC administration continues to destroy our productive sectors with its unwise policies that have led to the exit of multinational giants including GlaxoSmithKline, Procter & Gamble and Microsoft, among others, and massive disinvestment by major oil companies -gas from our country last year.

“The consequence of this is massive job and business losses, with accompanying socio-economic dislocations and uncertainty. Added to this is an unemployment rate of over 37%, inflation of over 33% and a devaluation of the naira of over 200% last year.

“It is therefore not surprising that Nigerians have completely lost hope in the APC administration which has no workable economic plan to lead our country out of its current despair.

“What is more disturbing is that when it comes to security, the APC has only paid lip service to the security of lives and properties of Nigerians by committing mass killings, kidnappings and looting of communities by bandits and terrorists rampaging across the country.

“According to reports, over 5,000 Nigerians have been killed and many more have been abducted in various parts of our country since May 29, 2023, and the APC administration has failed to take any concrete action to stop this terrible trend.

“It is clear from reports on sub-national governance across the country that the only hope for our nation lies in the performance of governors elected on the PDP platform who continue to deliver life-enhancing citizen empowerment, human capital, and projects infrastructure development that has a positive impact on people’s well-being.

The PDP has charged President Bola Tinubu to use the opportunity of his one-year term to reflect deeply on the state of the country under his watch, take a critical look at its policies and put forward a clear economic action plan that will advance the prosperity of the Nigerian people.

The statement added: “He should also address allegations of corruption and wastefulness in the administration.”

The PDP commended Nigerians for their steadfastness and urged them not to let the failures of the APC administration deprive them of hope in democracy and the nation.

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