This should be worrying times for whosoever loves the APC genuinely.
Under the APC, Nigerians have been wallowing in hunger, poverty and misery for the past nine years.
Such that they never ever witnessed in the sixteen years rule of the PDP.
Yet, the APC, nine years ago, promised Nigerians change.
Nigerians have since discovered that the change they were made to endure for eight years under Buhari was nothing but a negative change where things got worse on all fronts.
When Bola Ahmed Tinubu came with the mantra of Renewed Hope, though, many Nigerians were sceptical about the honesty of purpose of the man coming with the message of a renewed hope because they felt that he would definitely be an offshoot of the Buhari’s eight years of hardship, yet, some Nigerians felt Tinubu deserves to be given a chance.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu have completed a year in office and is on his second year in office as president and except there is a deliberate intent to deceive, his first year in office, by all standards, is one that has inflicted pains on Nigerians in such a way that no Nigerian has ever witnessed.
The president’s first official duty was the announcement of the removal of fuel subsidy, followed by the floating of the Naira.
These policies immediately triggered an upward rise in the prices of petroleum products and a drastic fall in the value of the Naira and since then, hell have been let loosed.
Prices of food stuffs, drugs and other essentials sky rocketed and lives became unbearable for Nigerians.
Whatever the president and his team thought were going to be remedies for the action of Government have continued to yield no positive results.
Sadly, president Tinubu boasted that his decision to announce the removal of fuel subsidy is as a result of ” courage”!
Courage to do what? To inflict pains on the people without any plans to ameliorate the sufferings such ” courageous” acts will engender?
That, to me does not look like courage. It is unfortunate to say the least.
Most unfortunately is the controversies that broke out about the payment of subsidies by the Government despite the announcement of its withdrawal.
It has been reported that a document submitted by the Finance Minister Wale Edun, contains the sum of 5.4 trillion Naira as payment for subsidies for the year 2024!
Government have released a statement attempting to use semantics to build confusion around the said document.
According to the presidency, the said document is ” not official”.
The question is, is the document fake?
Perhaps, someone should tell the president that Nigerians no longer trusts any word coming from his presidency.
In the build up to the presidential election, the president said and I will quote him verbatim in Yoruba, he said “.. won nsoro nipa oro epo, epo a won, a di, 300, a di 500, a maa gbee wa le..” meaning, they have been talking about the prices of petrol that it will shoot up to either 300 or 500 Naira, we will bring it down.
So, what happened? Have we not seen how the president kept that promise?
The first day in office and petrol have been selling for between six hundred and seven hundred Naira!
Gbee wale indeed.
The president must come clean about this latest confusion. I will not call it a scandal yet.
The talks on the streets now is that immediately the president announced the removal of fuel subsidies, all petrol stations previously known as Oando suddenly changed colors to NNPC stations.
Nigerians know who the owner of Oando is and the relationship he shares with the president.
The present confusion around the payment or non payment of subsidy is very unpleasant to say the least.
I don’t know if there still remain men of conscience or should I say of courage who could look into the president’s eyes and tell him the truth.
If there are such persons, they have a big job on their hands.
We were all here when those in Government now called former president Goodluck Jonathan all manner of names but the one that we won’t forget so quickly is the reference to him as a clueless president.
Now, in his shoes, haven’t they demonstrated more cluelessness?
What will we call the confusion caused by the presidential spokespersons in respect of the president’s visit to the joint sitting of the National Assembly on 29th May?
Even, Jonathan ” the clueless” didn’t entertain Nigerians with the kind of back and forth between two persons who were supposed to be conveying the messages of the president to the public.
That the president got away with his announcement of the removal of fuel subsidy without apologizing to Jonathan and Nigerians is as a result of the type of people we are.
In 2012, the then president Goodluck Jonathan announced the removal of fuel subsidies.
Who are the people who mobilized the citizens to stop that action?
Is it not those who are in Aso Rock now?
According to them in 2012, subsidy is fraud. Now, about twelve years after, the same people are in Government and they have publicly removed subsidies that they campaigned vigorously against in 2012.
To now add to the insults upon the sensibilities of Nigerians, we are seeing a document which says that we have been paying subsidies even though Nigerians are groaning under the consequences of the public announcement of the removal of fuel subsidy!
What is going on in this Government?
The other time, one of the presidential spokespersons was defending the son of the president who have been found to be having interests in a company that got a contract running into trillions of Naira from a Government his father is heading as president.
Assuming the shoes were to be on the other foot, these are the same people that have been unleashed in the past, to tackle Jonathan for less.
I also saw a video of Kolade Otitoju calling on the National Security Adviser to mobilize soldiers against Nigerian workers!
So much for our Democratic credentials.
President Tinubu’s Government is having problems offering the Nigerian Labor Congress a reasonable minimum wage, yet, it found it easy to increase the salaries of Judges by 300 percent.
I have no problems with the increase in the salaries of Judges but why is it difficult to replicate same for Labor?
Which committee was formed before the salaries of Judges were increased?
Like Yorubas will say, ” ko si eni ti ko mo ogbon ka fi eran senu, ka waa ti”. There is no magic in the disappearance of a piece of meat you put in your mouth. It has been swallowed.
If we consider a section of the society crucial to our future plans and because of that, we neglect the masses, I see no wisdom in such a strategy.
The people are the foundation of the existence of the country.
Without the people, there can not be a country. If we have no county, can we have a Government not to talk of a Judiciary.
The motives of president Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his men is open to Nigerians.
In every steps this Government takes, 2027 is the focus.
Unfortunately, I don’t know how they have refused to see that something is missing.
As a result of the concentration on 2027, this Government have kept alienating Itself from the masses and have been working on a small fraction of individuals that they consider necessary for whatever they are planning for 2027.
Take for example, the case instituted at the Supreme court by the Attorney general.
As commendable as the steps taken by the AGF are, time will expose the original intent of the Government and I will reserve comments about it for now even though, I must say that the president will be eventually disappointed about the end results as far as the politics of it is concerned.
Like I said, if there are men who possess the courage to speak truth to president Tinubu, now is the time to tell him the bitter truth that Nigerians across the country have been regretting voting him into office.
They should tell him that his Government is lacking in transparency and pity.
He must be told in clear terms that the only beneficiaries of his Government so far is himself, his family and his Cabinet.
They should remind him that even the PDP, in sixteen years didn’t oppress Nigerians as he has done in just one year.
If the president and his handlers are not moved by the fall of the PDP, if they thought they are masters in strategic politics, perhaps, the episode in South Africa will wake them up.
Who would have thought that the sun will ever break on the day that the ANC of Nelson Mandela will struggle to win a comfortable majority, enough to form a Government without seeking a merger?
Unfortunately, it is happening before our very eyes.
The PDP once boasted that It will rule Nigeria for sixty years!
Did it happen?
It didn’t happen because the party decided to take Nigerians for granted as president Tinubu is presently doing, albeit, in way far more daring than the PDP ever dared.
The president must be told in clear terms that the floor is slippery, ” .. Ile nyo”.
I just don’t know how they are fashioning a road to 2027 in the present condition they have led Nigeria to.
Manufacture votes by whatever means and be certain of getting ratification by the Judiciary?
Amidst the fury of the citizens who have been bruised and battered?
The results is better imagined.
The purveyors of such thoughts should have it in mind that such will not work in a situation where the masses have been generally united by hunger and pain.
The only way to secure tomorrow is to the best of today.
Not even the magicians of Lagos will survive the anger of Nigerians if they are pushed to the walls.
The president have continued to decimate his own party, he has continued to suffer Nigerians through his harsh Economic policies.
His reward system is not only flawed, it is frightening.
Those who labored to ensure his victory are generally abandoned in favour of those who contributed nothing.
His appointments have been lopsided and not reflecting of efforts of party men.
So, where is the road to 2027?
Eng. Oluwasina Adeyemi.
