The All Progressives Congress (APC) has criticised a former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, a former transport minister, Rotimi Amaechi, and former Kaduna governor, Nasir El-Rufai, over their claim that President Bola Tinubu was “weaponising” poverty.
The trio had over the weekend made the claim at a public lecture held in Abuja to mark Amaechi’s 60th birthday anniversary.
APC’s spokesman, Felix Morka, in a statement, knocked the three politicians, saying they could not and did not eradicate poverty in their states or the country despite occupying various public offices.
He said, “They did not even attempt to address, let alone tackle, the structural challenges and distortions that stifled the economy and worsened poverty over the years.
“Amaechi and his cohorts are losing their grip on the economy. Accustomed to fleecing the economy, they are now compelled by Tinubu’s unprecedented reforms to adapt to a new reality where hard work, productivity, and innovation are rewarded.
“Their criticisms of President Tinubu’s reforms are decidedly self-serving, driven by a desperate quest for power to satiate their voracious rent-seeking appetite, which has long stifled and denied progress to the economy.”
The APC said Tinubu has “demonstrated the political will to tackle structural barriers to the country’s economic growth and development far more than any other President in Nigeria’s modern history”.
“The criticisms variously leveled by Amaechi, Atiku, El-Rufai, and Peter Obi mask a shameless attempt to perpetuate and cling to the old rent-seeking economy that enriched them at the expense of the Nigerian people.
“The removal of fuel subsidy has been a game-changer. It ended massive corruption that plagued the fuel subsidy enterprise, and eliminated perennial shortages and queues at petrol stations.”
“The harmonisation of multiple exchange rates has further bolstered Nigeria’s competitiveness in the global market for goods and capital. With increased revenue, the federal, state, and local governments are now investing more in critical infrastructure, education, health, security, and social welfare,” the statement read.
