by Anike Jacobs
Speaking during an APC meeting with organized private sector at Marina, Lagos today February 2nd, Lagos state governor, Babatunde Fashola, told his audience the difference between APC & PDP.
According to him:
“The manifesto of the APC is designed to address 2015 problems going on to 2019 while PDP has is a 1999 manifesto and that probably explains the disconnect between our realities and the realities that you hear. The transformation that has been put forth has headed south not west. The Naira has weakened, interest rates has come up and it is for us to chose whether we want four more years of that and the Naira is essential in a free fall in an economy that is currently import denominated and it would only mean that the purchasing power of our disposable income would continue to reduce.” he said.
The necessity of now is to halt that free fall. That is something we cannot vote continuity on. I will not. But more importantly as the candidate, Gen Buhari, has said, it is essentially not how much really Nigeria earns, it is what value we get out of that money. If we had sold crude oil, our major income earner for like almost 5-6 years at over a $100 per barrel and all of us are saying there is pain, do we want to continue now when there is reduced income with the same team on the same management capacity. If they couldn’t do topnotch at $100 per barrel, can we trust them to do more with less?” he added.
WE ARE NOT FOOLED
Let us look at the APC presidential candidate critically, although many have categorized him a saint others can still point to some of his shortcomings including his certificate scandal, his sympathy to Boko Haram, his Sharia implementation agenda, his dictatorial tendencies, his worn out ideas and his advanced age etc.
However, the problem is compounded when we look at the company he keeps. His campaign Director Governor Chibuike Amaechi is yet to clear the air on the N20 billion paid into his private account by Peter Odili. Amaechi is one of the governors in this country who is richer than his state. He is pumping State Government money into the APC, funding the party and its presidential candidate. Buhari has refused to ask any questions. It is apparent however that he is dinning and wining with looters.
Similarly, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is waiting for a Buhari presidency so that he will turn Nigeria to his business empire. He did same in Lagos state. Tinubu presently owns half of Lagos State, after his mother’s reign as Iyaloja general, he installed his daughter as the next Iyaloja general his wife is a serving Senator of the republic, his in-law a member of house of assembly, he converted Lagos State government building to personal. What of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar? The list is endless. This group of people cannot bring about any real development to Nigeria.
The truth is that as a people Nigerians have made too much progress to turn back to the same people and policies that got us into the crisis in the first place. We have a choice before us, not between corrupt and non-corrupt people but between real progress and a mere slogan.
Let’s vote wisely!
The so-called Transformation Agenda is based on a National Implementation Plan for the Nigeria Vision 20:2020 document, which was prepared, not by the PDP, but by broad base of national stakeholders. Whether the plan is effectively implemented is another question altogether, but Fashola is betraying either ignorance or disdain for a nationally conceived effort, or is deliberately glossing over the truth.