*Condemns Kachikwu for calling party leaders old, recycled
*Says we are open to reconciliation
By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has warned that Nigerians risked being pushed ‘into the lagoon’ if they give the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) led administration of President Bola Tinubu a second term in office.
This is as the ADC has condemned its former presidential candidate, Dr Dumebi Kachikwu for dubbing the current national leaders of the coalition party as an assemblage of retired politicians, who are old and being recycled.
Senator David Mark, erstwhile Senate and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, former Governor of Osun State, are the National Chairman and Secretary of the party respectively.
The National Publicity Secretary of the coalition party, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said these while answering questions from Journalists at the weekend in Abuja.
The ADC spokesperson pointed out that the removal of fuel subsidy by the present administration the very first day the President assumed office as well the various tax regimes it has introduced, have brought untold hardship to Nigerians.
Abdullahi added that the devaluation of the Naira has further eroded the purchasing power of the people, cautioning that an extra four years for the APC administration in 2027 could push Nigerians to precipice.
In the words of the NPS of the ADC, “This is a government that removed fuel subsidy from day one. And I’m not debating whether subsidy is the right thing to do or not to do. What I’m saying is that removal of fuel subsidy has brought untold hardship to Nigerians. So Nigerians are suffering as a result of your removal of fuel subsidy.
“Then you added debts to that without providing any mitigating intervention that will cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal on the people.
What did you do? You added the devaluation of the Naira. That further eroded the purchasing power of the people.
“So it means that those who were earning 30,000 Naira or 35,000 Naira minimum wage, now were no longer able to use their N35,000 for what they were using it for. Now, by the global standard, the extreme poverty line is now $2.50 per day. If you convert that to the devalued Naira, that gives you like N93,000 or N94,000.
“So it means that even if you pay N70,000 minimum wage, majority of Nigerians will still be below the extreme poverty line.
“Now, you didn’t stop there. You now said everybody will now, from January next year, you suddenly realize that there is a law that allows you to charge 5% petrol tax from January next year. So it means that even with your N35,000 or N70,000, if you buy petrol, as a vulcanizer running your small business in your corner, if you buy petrol, you pay 5% on every single liter of petrol that you buy.
“Then you didn’t stop there. I read this morning, another 5% on aviation tax, which means that for you to fly in Nigeria, flight ticket is already being priced beyond the reach of the average middle class person who wants to do business and fly from Lagos to Abuja. Now, when you add 5% aviation tax, so it means that the airlines will now pass on, because it’s VAT, they said, will now pass on the cost to the passengers. “Now, what exactly did we vote this government to do, to kill us? No, because there is something punitive about what they are doing.
“So when you are telling me to give them another four years, four years for what? To push us to the lagoon? So it leads you to ask yourself, who exactly is running this country? Are they these Nigerians? Are they these Nigerians who walk on the street and see what Nigerians are going through?
“So regardless of what, regardless of the technical correctness of your policies, if it’s going to break the back of your citizens, what do you do? You say no. “But what they are doing is doubling down and telling us that it is the right thing to do, that they have to take tough economic measures to stabilize the economy, that people have to make sacrifices.
“And we ask question number one, can you tell us where all this is leading us? he asked.
On the claims by Dr. Dumebi Kachikwu that the ADC new leadership are an assemblage of retired politicians, Abdullahi said, “number one, he (Kachikwu) has no business in this conversation. He’s not even a member of the African Democratic Congress. That is very clear.
“Number two, a one-time presidential candidate or any candidate of a party does not own the party, does not have a say in the direction the party goes.
“You were given the ticket of the party to run a particular election. That does not make you a permanent candidate of the party and does not allocate to you the power of the leadership of the party, not of the NWC, not of the NEC of the party. So you wonder what is the basis for what this individual is doing.
“There are some narratives that you find people use in the public space that is disturbing.
“When you begin to castigate people on the account of their age, when does it become a crime to be an older person? “These are things that people get arrested for in civilized societies, to profile people in a way that shows that you are excluding them for one reason or the other from their democratic rights.
“So you keep saying old people, old people. Is it a crime to be an older person? That’s number one. Number two, he’s talking about all recycled politicians. Who is in position in this country that is not recycled?
“Mention one politician in this country that has not been to one party or the other, or have not held one position or the other. Are we going to manufacture a new political class overnight?
“It’s the same recycled people that do politics in Nigeria. And we’re now going to bring foreigners to play politics in Nigeria? So by the time I’ve listened to his rhetoric, and like I said, it’s wrong, it’s divisive, it’s inflammatory, and it should be condemned. Because he keeps saying North, South, these Northerners. Who talks like that?
“And this is someone who, no matter how ridiculous, aspired to be a President of Nigeria. And he’s promoting such divisive rhetoric. It’s quite unfortunate. I’m not going to say anything more than that”, he said.
Abdullahi however said that the ADC leadership is not averse to reconciliation with aggrieved members who interested in such.
His words, “We’ll be happy to talk to anyone who is willing to talk. We have people, even those within the leadership, the rank of the leadership, that voluntarily resigned their positions. We had people who had expressed one grievances or another.
“We have managed to recognize some grievances, legitimate grievances, and we have dealt with them. But when people are just being belligerent, to the extent that you have no reason to doubt that they had ulterior motives, which is to destabilize the party and create a condition that makes it difficult for the party to move forward, then we can’t continue to appease those kind of people.
“So tomorrow, if whoever is willing to sit down to have a conversation to say, look, this is my grievance, or these are my grievances, and I will be happy for it to be addressed, I can assure you that those grievances will be addressed to the extent that they could be accommodated.
“But if what you are doing is to continue to drag the party back, to continue to create a condition that Nigerians would think that we are permanently in crisis, don’t forget this was the same thing that was done to PDP. This was the same thing that was done to Labour Party. This was the same thing that was done to SDP”, he said.
END
