Political actors behind national rot cannot chart way forward — APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC), has said that political actors that midwifed national rot cannot chart a way forward for the country.

Mr Yekini Nabena, the APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary, said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

He added that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), especially, had no moral standing to criticise the policies of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

He also said that the PDP and its chieftains could not pose as voices on the way forward in the country’s development.

He said it was baffling and ironic that the same political actors that midwifed and institutionalised the national rot, corruption, impunity and eroding of our value systems were the same persons posing as voices on the way forward in our national life.

“Former President Olusegun Obasanjo could start with telling us where the electricity is despite $16 billion he spent on the power sector.

“Obasanjo’s deputy, Alhaji. Atiku Abubakar, should account for the privatisation exercise under his watch which saw national assets sold off to friends and cronies with no benefit to the country.

“Successive PDP administrations can also start by accounting for the trillions stolen from our national coffers in the guise of a fraudulent fuel subsidy regime,” Nabena said.

He added that while it was within the rights of these political actors to write letters criticising the President Buhari-led administration, the government was walking the talk.

This, he said, the government was doing with verifiable projects and people-centred interventions that was uplifting Nigerians.

Nabena said these political actors probably only listened to their voices because Nigerians had long stopped taking them seriously.

This, he added, was especially so because they lacked the antecedents and moral credentials to guide Nigeria and Nigerians to the path of prosperity and progress.

“Their abandoned projects which constituted drainpipes on national resources are being completed by this administration.

“The brazen culture of impunity and corruption which they institutionalised is being replaced by strong and accountable systems.

“The culture of round tripling and the rested subsidy regime in the petroleum sector has been replaced by a deregulated and accountable petroleum pricing template.

“Instead of plotting how to sell off national assets, particularly the NNPC to friends, this administration is reforming public sector operations to ensure optimised service delivery,” he said.

The APC spokesman noted that as a country, we are gradually eating what we grow.

He also said that our national emergency health response had earned global accolades and recognition as displayed by government’s COVID-19 response.

Nabena further said that the country’s defence capacity to respond and contain emerging security challenges had also been tested and proven since the inception of the APC administration.

He said all were achieved by a strong, people-centred and focussed leadership which the President Buhari-led APC administration provides.

He noted that genuine patriots, reputable groups and organisations who were making honest contributions on the deregulation of electricity and petrol prices already saw the decision as inevitable and the way to go.

Recall that the Minister of State, Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, had said that the country would save as much as one trillion naira ($2.6 billion) yearly following the deregulation of the petroleum sector.

Nabena assured that the freed up cash would be accounted for and judiciously invested to develop other critical areas such as infrastructure, health care, and education among others.