Erstwhile National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New People’s Democratic Party (nPDP) and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has criticized President Tinubu’s broadcast on the nationwide protest against hunger and bad governance in Nigeria, describing it as shallow and grossly out of tune with the concerns that triggered the countrywide demonstration.
In a statement made available to the media, the party chieftain said Nigerians would have loved to hear the President outline the policy inclination of his administration in addressing the very genuine concerns of Nigerians, including the flamboyant costs incurred in running public offices and the lavish lifestyle of government functionaries.
“The president, in his broadcast, overlooked critical issues constituting a clog and stunting the growth of our country and her people such as high cost of governance, corruption, judicial rascality, corrupt electoral umpire, hunger, unemployment, harsh impact of fuel subsidy removal, armed banditry and general insecurity, high cost of living and more. So the broadcast seeks to discredit the substance of the ongoing protests and therefore rings hollow.”
Expressing disappointment over the president’s display of levity in handling the volatile situation across the country which is a direct creation of his ineptitude, Eze said Tinubu has isolated himself from the objectives of the APC; a party founded on the ideals of a united, prosperous Nigeria.
Eze maintained that as a one time spokesperson for nPDP and a member of the APC Media Legacy Project Committee, “I must state that what Tinubu is currently superintending is not the vision of APC that most of us risked our lives to bring to be.
According to Eze, “we never brought APC to visit Nigeria and Nigerians with the level of hunger pervading our nation and warranting citizens to resort to suicide as the last resort to escaping the hardship neither did we bring APC to visit Nigeria and Nigerians with the level of insecurity that has enveloped us to such an extent where it becomes suicidal for farmers to go to their farms for whatever purpose.
“We never envisaged that our common effort to bring APC to salvage Nigeria will be so corrupted by the inordinate ambition of Tinubu to foist himself on the country as president and on this footing we owe Nigerians an unreserved apology. Our beloved country has turned to a laughing stock before the international community as most countries now advise their citizens to be wary of traveling to Nigeria.”
Concerned by the hyper level of corruption, Eze queried the justification for spending over 21billion Naira to build a house for the Vice President in the midst of the thriving hardship, as if the VP was homeless, noting that under Tinubu’s nose, corruption is considered a way of life for government officials and they find it right to imprudently indulge in fanfare of squander mania, leaving the ordinary people in squalor without a hint of remorse.