The Labour Party in Ogun State has come down heavily on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for allegedly cautioning politicians against aspiring for the 2019 elections because of the current hardship confronting Nigerians.
Atiku had reportedly said that no politician should talk about preparations for the 2019 elections when Nigerians were still hungry. But the LP accused Abubakar of being part of the ruling All Progressives Congress, which had plunged the country into the current state of economic recession.
LP state chairman, Oluwafemi Arabambi, told The Point in Abeokuta in an exclusive chat that he was highly disappointed with the former VP for making such comment as a political leader.
He stated that the former VP, being a former presidential aspirant on the platform of the APC, lacked the moral right to make such a statement. Arabambi maintained that the ruling APC, which facilitated the mandate President Muhammadu Buhari secured during the 2015 presidential election, had failed in its bid to pull Nigeria out of the economic doldrums the nation had found herself after being at the helm of affairs for almost two years.
He further blamed the APC for allegedly using deceit during the campaigns for the 2015 general elections to get victory at the polls. He said, “I’m a little bit disappointed with the former vice president as a political leader. Who are the people causing the hunger? APC.
Atiku is part and parcel of the ruling party. APC told Nigerians that it was going to put an end to hunger in the land within two weeks if elected in 2015. “And finally President Buhari got the mandate of Nigerians to clear the assumed mess they told us pervaded the entire landscape of Nigeria. But what do we see? Deceit and inordinate ambition, the hallmarks of APC aspiration.”
He noted that the APC lacked focus and the cardinal programmes to take Nigerians out of the hunger that had now pervaded the entire country, saying that the ruling party had not fulfilled its electoral promises on fuel subsidy, free feeding programme and the rescue of all the abducted Chibok girls.
“What is their programme? They lied to us about bringing the Naira and dollar at par within how many days. They lied to us about the rescue of the Chibok girls! They promised free feeding, nothing! They promised subsidy, kerosene is now N350 per litre from the N50 price at which they met it,” he lamented.
Arabambi stressed that since the APC government had led the country into the current economic recession, the opposition parties must start early preparations for the 2019 elections in order to get Nigerians out of the problem.
“If you cause hunger, somebody else must be prepared in time to clear it. Why will people not return to the drawing board to get us out of the mess that they have plunged our economy into?
So, for him to say any Nigerian politician preparing for the 2019 elections is doing so too early, it’s obvious that the APC has no focus and no programme,” he said. Arguing that the Buhari led administration had nothing to offer Nigerians, except deceit, Arabambi said, “Every right thinking politician that has the interest of Nigeria at heart must come on board to salvage our country from the economic mess that the APC has plunged us into.”
