by Deji Abiodun
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described as too little, too late the recent election-propelled pretend acts of governance by President Goodluck Jonathan to convince Nigerians to vote for him and his party in the forthcoming polls.
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the APC National Publicity secretary in a statement issued on Sunday said, ”Mr. President, you cannot undo, in six weeks, the glaring instances of cluelessness, incompetence and near total lack of governance that your administration has exhibited in the past six years, even if you move Aso Rock to the South-west or bribe every Nigerian with the proceeds of corruption.
”Your Administration-sanctioned smear campaigns against APC leaders, your obscenity-laden meeting with youths, your offer of jobs to 167 out of over 40 million unemployed youths, and your temporary relocation to the South-west where you believe your naira and dollar rain will translate to votes are all belated and of no effect,” it said.
APC said all the President’s latter-day efforts went up in smokes on Saturday when over one million Nigerians marched through the streets of Lagos in support of change, even as a hurriedly-organized, pretend march led by the President in Abuja failed to distract from the success of the Lagos march, as envisaged by the organizers.
The party said its latest opinion poll on the forthcoming elections shows that Nigerians have already made up their minds regarding which party they will vote for, even before the six-week postponement of the elections, which was orchestrated to allow the sinking PDP and its candidates at all levels to recover from the dizzying effect of the daily blows being dealt on them by Nigerians.
It said a President who was playing dirty politics while over 15,000 Nigerians were being murdered by the evil Boko Haram cannot now expect to reap from a sudden resurgence in the fight against the terrorists.
”Mr. President, you had all of six years to secure the lives and property of Nigerians, provide jobs, improve the economy, give Nigerians constant power supply and curb corruption, but you did none of those things.
”Under your watch, Mr. President, the economy has virtually collapsed with the US dollar now exchanging for over 220 Naira, the highest ever, millions of youths are roaming the streets even as your government fleeces them from time to time over phantom jobs, industries are collapsing in droves, Nigerians are more divided than ever, many states and even the FG can’t pay workers’ salaries and corruption is at an all-time high as the looting of the public treasury has become the order of the day while Nigerians have never felt so insecure.
”It is amazing, therefore, how you can even think that six weeks of unprecedented bribery of individuals, pretend governance, and cash-induced occult-like ‘prayer’ sessions, among others, will turn the tide in your favour. Nigerians are not fooled by your antics, Mr. President. Your efforts are too little, too late,” APC said.
The party said it is now glaring that the missing 20 billion dollars, the multi-billion-naira pension scam and the multi-trillion oil subsidy fraud, just to mention a few, all fed into the massive bribery that the Jonathan Administration has engaged in over the past few weeks, hoping to buy the votes of Nigerians.
It said, however, that such profligate and immoral act would not have been necessary if the Administration had done what it was elected to do in the first instance: provide good governance!
”They thought six weeks constitute an eternity. Well, six weeks are almost over now and Nigerians are ready to give the Jonathan Administration the score-sheet it deserves, because they are more interested in contents than in labels, hence would not be hoodwinked by the contrived acts of governance,” APC said.
The party thanked Nigerians for their support, both morally and financially, that has seen the APC becoming a people-driven movement.
”In spite of the massive muckraking by the Jonathan Administration, the use of statistics to dish lies to the public about economic growth and the unprecedented bribery of some citizens, Nigerians are solidly behind us and we thank them for their support. We urge them to continue to eschew all acts of violence even in the face of the most egregious provocations, and to remain vigilant in the three weeks remaining to the decisive elections,” it said.
