From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said Nigerians would reject the All Progressives Congress ( APC) and its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu because of insecurity and economic hardship it alleged the ruling party has visited on the country since 2015.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, at a press briefing, yesterday, in Abuja, said while the opposition party handed over a $550 billion economy to the APC in 2015, the ruling party ruined the economy and turned the country into the poverty capital of the world where over 100 million Nigerians can no longer afford their daily meals.
“A vote for APC will be a support for insecurity and acts of terrorism, mass killings, poverty, hardship and infrastructural stagnation. Above all, it will be a vote for a bleak future for our children and future generation,” he said.
Ologunagba said under the APC, the country became “ the second most corrupt country in West Africa and 154 out of 180 in Global Corruption Index with APC leaders allegedly stealing over N15 trillion oil revenue meant for infrastructural development in the country.”
He said under the APC, the country has also become one of the most dangerous places to live in the world, as it is ranked 4th in the Global Terrorism Index report, the third country with the highest level of terrorism after Iran and Afghanistan with over 55,430 Nigerians killed by terrorists and criminal gangs between 2015 and 2022.
The opposition party spokesman further said the crisis in the economy was compounded by debts accumulation by the APC government from N12 trillion in 2015 to a staggering N44.06 trillion today.
“Inflation rate rising from 9 per cent in 2015 to over 22 per cent in 2023 and an exchange rate of about N197 to $1 under the PDP to over N750 to $1 today with a consequential negative effect on Small and Medium Scale Enterprises which were forced to close down resulting in massive unemployment from about 8 per cent in 2015 to 37 per cent in 2023.”
The PDP said life discounting experiences in Nigeria were worsened by the harsh economic policies of APC which saw the pump price of fuel rising from N87 per liter under the PDP to about N400 to N500 per liter in various parts of the country today.
“Today, under the APC, a bag of rice which sold at N7,500 in 2015 under the PDP now sells for almost N50,000; a measure of garri which sold at N100 in 2015 now sells for over N450 while a measure of beans which sold at N250 in 2015 now sells for over N1000 under the APC. The list is endless.”
Ologunagba said while the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has continued to engage Nigerians on critical issues, the APC and its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, in their alleged “arrogance and entitlement mentality treated Nigerians with unpardonable disdain by refusing to engage the people in interactive sessions, debates and media interviews.”
He said: “Since his emergence as the presidential candidate of APC, Asiwaju Tinubu, the APC has not been able to engage in campaign on issues rather their focus have been on individuals and irrelevance, even display of unseriousness and comics.
“It would be recalled that at the beginning of the campaign, Asiwaju Tinubu who cannot point to any development project or programme he initiated and executed in his eight years as governor of Lagos State, attempted to appropriate the achievements of his predecessors and successors in office.
“When that failed, the Tinubu/Shettima Campaign came up with the promise to continue on the ‘legacies’ of the Buhari-led APC administration. When they realized that such was a serious pitfall given the massive failure of the administration where Asiwaju Tinubu holds sway as leader, they resorted to a desperate attempt to dissociate Asiwaju Tinubu from the APC administration.
“However, Nigerians cannot be fooled as they can clearly remember the deep involvement of Bola Tinubu in the current APC government wherein he publicly boasted that he single-handedly installed the Buhari administration…,” he said.