APC replies Obi over criticism of Tinubu’s performance

• Says Tinubu an achiever

By Jude Opara

The All Progressives Congress, (APC), has criticised former Labour Party, (LP), presidential candidate Peter Obi over his condemnation of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

APC described Tinubu as a solid achiever who transformed difficulties into opportunities as governor of Lagos State, unlike Obi, who “bequeathed a sordid legacy of economic stagnation, infrastructural decay, ecological disaster, and religious polarization.”

Felix Morka, the APC National Publicity Secretary, made the remark in response to Obi’s interview, in which he accused Tinubu of poor performance.

The former Governor of Anambra State had criticised Tinubu for his underperformance in implementing economic policy reforms. He also claimed he would have done better as president.

In response, Morka, in a statement, said: “Opposition politics is not about denying the administration’s many successes. It is about critiquing what may be wrong, but affirming what is right. It is not about wholesale condemnation intended solely to mislead and score cheap political gains.

“The steady progress of the Tinubu administration across sectors is undeniable and evident for all Nigerians to see.

“It is hysterical that Mr Obi, who presided over a failed and forgotten administration in Anambra State, which comprises only 21 local government areas, would so brazenly boast of his capacity to govern Africa’s largest democracy.

“Obi bequeathed a sordid legacy of economic stagnation, infrastructural decay, ecological disaster, and religious polarization.

“Both as former governor of Lagos State and now as president, Tinubu is a dogged achiever, bold and unwavering in tackling and transforming difficult challenges into opportunities.

“As he did for Lagos, President Tinubu is now doing for Nigeria, with the economy rebounding steadily, posting productivity-enhanced trade surpluses in successive quarters, a 3.6 per cent economic growth forecast for the current fiscal year, a fast-expanding foreign reserve, revamped and operational local refineries, food inflation on the decline, and a successful harmonisation of multiple exchange rates that now support increased foreign direct investments and remittance flows into the economy, along with a reasonably stable forex market.

“The administration has also achieved success in clearing the $7 billion forex backlog and the ‘Ways and Means’ debt of over $30 billion, reducing the debt service ratio from 98 percent to about 64 percent, and increasing oil production to over 1.8 million barrels per day (mbpd), surpassing the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota of 1.5 mbpd for the first time in many years. The stock exchange market has been repositioned and is now one of the most profitable in the world, while sectors such as agriculture, mining and steel, manufacturing, and the creative industries are expanding rapidly, contributing to a stronger non-oil GDP.

“Recently, Chatham House even adjudged the nation’s economy to be the most competitive it has been in 25 years.

“While global institutions and experts are applauding the unfolding silent economic revolution ably led by President Tinubu, Obi and his co-opposition drummers of empty partisan barrels continue to deny President Tinubu’s superlative and incomparable near-midterm successes and achievements.”