…Tags his administration of dictatorship, insensitive of plight of Nigerians
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former member of the ruling party’s National Working Committee (NWC), Salihu Moh Lukman, has described President Bola Tinubu-led administration as visionless, clueless and directionless.
Lukman, a former APC National Vice Chairman, North-West equally claimed that the four critical decisions so far taken by the present administration of President Tinubu are regrettably based on impulse.
In a statement he issued in Abuja on Saturday, the former Director General APC Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) launched a dawning attack on President Tinubu, stressing that there is no difference between his government and that of former President Muhammadu Buhari in terms of failure to fulfil the promises made to Nigerians.
He lamented that apart from issues of inclusivity being in reverse gear, the supposed progressive government is talking down on Nigerians and like dictators almost tell citizens to take-as-given, every decision taken, even when faced with grave consequences, threatening survival as is presently being experienced.
His words: “Arguably, with respect to all these issues, it is as if government first announce decisions before beginning to think in terms of what needs to be done to manage the consequences that followed.”
“In which case, rather than acting as a progressive government that is dynamic, action oriented towards improving the welfare conditions of citizens, President Tinubu’s administration is behaving more like a reactionary government.
“Given such reality, it is almost impossible to predict what the goal or vision of the government is. This was clearly the same problem we had with former President Buhari’s government. The incomprehensible reality is that both former President Buhari’s and current President Tinubu-led governments are APC governments, which got elected based on the promise of changing Nigeria.
“Part of the change that is expected is having a government that guarantees and accommodates inclusivilty, based on which the outcry of citizens is factored and utilised to guide design and implementation of government policy,” Lukman noted in the statement.
Describing the Tinubu administration of dictatorial tendencies, the APC chieftain declared that; “from the time of former President Buhari to the current era of President Tinubu, issues of inclusivity are in reverse gear. Rather than engaging Nigerians and getting them to own policies of government, supposedly progressive governments talked down on Nigerians and like dictators almost tell citizens to take as given every decision taken, even when faced with grave consequences, threatening survival as is presently being experienced.
“With a manifesto that was the product of robust internal consultations during the merger negotiations that produced the APC in 2013, the expectation was that, starting from the government of former President Buhari, through strong engagements of diverse interest groups in the country, the APC will begin to translate the party’s manifesto and all campaign promises into clearly defined policy decisions.
“This would have been the progressive thrust of the APC and all its governments, especially the federal government. Without doubt, this wasn’t achieved throughout the eight-year tenure of former President Buhari. Any achievement recorded is far below what could have been recorded had the APC manifesto been used as a guide for policy decisions of government between 2015 and 2023.
“Part of the unwritten expectation of many party members is that the emergence of President Tinubu in May 2023, will produce a new reality whereby the APC controlled federal government would begin to find its bearing from the provisions of the APC manifesto and most, if not all, the lost opportunities will be recovered.
Unfortunately, the most unexpected manifestation of lack of inclusivity in democracy is what appears to be a conscious demobilisation of the APC as a political party,” he lambasted President Tinubu in the statement.