The All Progressives Congress (APC) Tuesday condemned the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, over the speculated plan by the duo to form an alliance with the ultimate aim of wrestling power from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027.
Berating the move in a statement Tuesday in Abuja, APC National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka said the duo were “united by mutual desperation.”
Morka further accused them (Atiku and Obi) of being political wanderers, adding that “their restless drift in search of convenient party platforms to execute their presidential run only belie the self-indulgent and opportunistic essence of their aspirations.”
Morka said: “What is unclear, however, is whether Obi would make a comeback to Atiku’s PDP or whether Atiku would dump his PDP and seek rehabilitation in Obi’s Labour Party or whether both men would abandon PDP and Labour, altogether, and sojourn into the political wilderness of Professor Pat Utomi’s mega party.
“News of Peter Obi’s return to the PDP would be hardly surprising. His reputation as a political wayfarer is only dwarfed by Atiku’s track record as a veteran political wanderer.
“News of Atiku joining the Labour party will shock no one as he will be living up to his well established reputation as the country’s most itinerant politician. For now, Utomi’s mega party remains a figment with no offering of tangible accommodation for both men.
“Atiku and Obi are united by their mutual desperation to be President of Nigeria and ignoble disdain for President Bola Tinubu’s focused and extraordinary commitment to the transformation of our nation.
“Men without the staying power to build or fix their own parties, who flee at the slightest flicker of internal crisis, cannot possibly be trusted by Nigerians to tackle serious and complex national political and economic challenges that confront our nation.”
Speaking further, the APC spokesperson lauded Tinubu’s commitment towards the economic development of Nigeria and urged citizens to stand with him.
“President Bola Tinubu embodies character, vision, tenacity and doggedness required to deliver a resurgent Nigeria of stable growth and development. The administration’s bold economic policy reforms and massive infrastructural uptake have already shattered historic barriers to growth, and paved the way for steady progress and development.
“We urge Nigerians to stand fast in their invaluable support of our great Party and President Bola Tinubu’s determined commitment to deliver a stronger, secure and more prosperous country for us all,” he said.
…Ganduje targets more states, Tinubu’s re-election
In a related development, the APC national chairman, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, said the party’s target in 2027 general elections will be to win more states and ensure Tinubu’s re-election.
He spoke Tuesday in Abuja at the maiden policy round-table organised by APC Professionals Forum to mark the one-year anniversary of the Tinubu-led administration.
Ganduje said Nigeria’s economy had been transformed into a credit-based consumer economy that will improve agriculture, with emphasis on dry season farming, with positive impact on food security, food price, and enabling infrastructure, access to education, among others.
On the target of the party for 2027 general elections, Ganduje said: “Even though it is not yet an election period, we are reinvigorating the party to ensure that come 2027; we will retain and get new state governors, as well as Mr President to secure another mandate to continue with his government’s policies and programmes.
“We have also constituted at the national level a Reconciliation Committee that would reconcile all aggrieved party members, and such committee will be established at the state, local government and ward levels.”
While enumerating the achievements of the current administration, he said: “Now that the economy is shifting towards renewable and sustainable energy sources, the use of cheap and clean Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) has now become a reality under the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
“On infrastructure, Mr. President has approved the construction/completion and rehabilitation of several road projects across the country to include the Kano – Abuja Road, Kano-Eastern Bypass Road Project, the 700 Km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road, the 1000 Km Badagry-Sokoto Road, the 3500 Units Renewed Hope Housing Cities and Estates now being built in 13 states of the country, for starters.
“In the next few days, the Students Loan Fund will become operational, and Nigerian youth will now have easier access to higher education by applying for funds from the scheme.”
“On power, I have observed the increased transmission capacity of the country that now peaks at 14000 megawatts. On the party, we are gradually restructuring our party into a truly grassroots progressive party.
“We have directed our State Chapters to liaise with their respective governors and other stakeholders to ensure that we have full-fledged, functional offices in every political ward and state to enable our members across the country to have symbolic representation in their neighborhood,” he said.
..Group’s BoT chair speaks
Speaking earlier, Chairman Board of Trustees (BOT), APC Professionals Forum and former Bauchi state governor, Isa Yuguda, who had earlier opposed the removal of fuel subsidy, said: “Indeed, the President has today been proved right with the manner petrol importation has gone down by 50% since June 2023 and it is almost certain to go down more in a few months when the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery begins to produce PMS locally as well as the impending resumption of production at the Port Harcourt and Warri Refineries.”
According to him, a recent study also showed that in spite of the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020, Nigeria still paid billions of naira for fuel subsidy even though in reality, domestic fuel consumption was very low.
“If any Nigerian is still in doubt about how payment of subsidy has over the years strained the country’s resources, they must have seen how the subnationals now receive more than double what they used to get from Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).
“The reform-minded Tinubu administration also unified the exchange rates which inevitably sent those benefiting from arbitrage out of business. And of course, it did not take before Nigeria began to reap the benefits as the economy grew by 3.46% in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared with 2.54% in the preceding quarter. Also Capital importation was up by 66% in Q4 of 2023 compared to a 33% decline in the previous quarter,” Yuguda said.