While maintaining that it would have been simple and painless for President Tinubu to adopt the same measures as his predecessors and carry on with business as usual, the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has acknowledged that the inevitable reforms initiated by President Bola Tinubu have increased economic hardship in the nation. However, he did not want the rot and stagnation to fester.
Felix Morka, the national publicity secretary for the APC, made the admission in a statement yesterday in response to the former national vice chairman of North West, Salihu Moh Lukman, who had urged the opposition parties to band together to unseat the ruling party in the 2027 presidential election.
However, Morka countered that President Tinubu was taking decisive action to reset the nation’s long-broken economy, enhance national security, and return the nation to healthy and sustainable development—all while mocking Lukman in the statement.
The ruling party advised Nigerians to stay focused, ignore the pettiness and misinformation of the opposition, and stick with President Tinubu in his efforts to create more progress and a more promising future for the nation.
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“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,”
Morka went on the attack, calling Lukman a political rodomont who was irrationally angry and underlining how intensely he craves attention. His insatiable need for attention has not been satisfied by anything, not even his frantic political soliloquy of self-adulation.
“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.
In the statement, Morka jokingly said, “It is absurd 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.”
