A group, The Democratic Front (TDF) has expressed shock at what it described as a careless statement attributed to one of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) campaign spokespersons, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, regarding Vice President Kashim Shettima’s charitable comments on the economy.
In a statement by its Chairman, Mallam Danjuma Muhammad, and Secretary, Chief Wale Adedayo, TDF noted that Ologbodiyan was the spokesman of a party that ruled the country for 16 years but left little in terms of infrastructural development.
It said: “We are particularly surprised by the realisation that Mr Kola Ologbondiyan forgot so soon that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic rescue mission saved Nigeria from the accumulated consequences of the 16 years of misgovernance under the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), a political party he served as National Publicity Secretary.
“The ADC campaign spokesperson may have deluded himself to think that Nigerians have forgotten the era of monumental corruption, administrative ineptitude and hopelessness that characterised the three successive regimes of the former political party he actively served when he accused the APC and its governments of the country’s economic woes.
“Ologbondiyan and the ADC need to be reminded that the Nigerian economy had completely collapsed by 2015, when the PDP-led federal government owed salary arrears of its own staff at a time that billions were spent on petroleum subsidy scams. It was also a period when the government could not push back Boko Haram terrorists from occupying 17 local governments in the country due to inadequate funds to procure military hardware and provide incentives for members of the Armed Forces and Security Agents.
“Similarly, the situation in 2015, during which the PDP federal administration could not develop critical infrastructure relating to road, rail, waterways and the blue economy, when the government could neither build nor encourage the establishment of a private refinery. “
It also recalled the state of the economy as at the time the All Progressives Congress APC assumed the country’s leadership in 2015.
“We recall that about 34 states of the federation owed salaries, emoluments and gratuity of serving and retired civil servants on account of major shortfalls in FAAC earnings, and allocations to sub-nationals.
“This was precisely the state of the union when the people of Nigeria rose in unison to sweep Kola Ologbondiyan and his PDP colleagues, who are now in the ADC, out of the saddle of the country’s political leadership in 2015.
“We indeed believe that posterity will be fair to the first APC administration under late President Muhammadu Buhari, for achieving heartwarming deliverables in the areas of critical infrastructure, war against terrorism, and several others despite the global crude oil price collapse of 2015 -2017, which was accompanied by Covid19.
“Contrary to Ologbondiyan’s postulations, TDF aligns with Vice President Kashim Shetima’s commendation for President Tinubu’s sacrifice that pulled Nigeria back from the brink of total economic collapse.
“We equally agree with Vice President Kashim Shetima that President Bola Tinubu’s decision to remove the subsidy on petroleum may truly have caused discomfort for the people, but it was the saving grace that has facilitated the current drive towards Nigeria’s economic prosperity,” it added.
