The leadership of Labour Party on Friday said it found the audacity of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to campaign for better lives for Nigerians alarming, when it was obvious he foisted a ruler that made lives unbearable for the people.
This is as the New Nigerian Peoples Party warned that whatever infrastructure the former governor of Lagos State was proposing for the country, it should not be modelled after the exploitative Lekki-Epe Expressway arrangement.
The oppositions to Tinubu’s policy document were expressed by both the National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party, Abayomi Arabambi, and the Presidential Campaign Spokesman for the NNPP, Ladipo Johnson, in two separate interviews.
Arabambi said he was not surprised that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), failed in his ‘Change’ mantra because it was a fact that a leopard could not change its spots.
He recalled Buhari’s regime as a military junta ruler who introduced many decrees that encroached with impunity on people’s rights, a move that he said lacked any economic blueprint.
He said, “That is why the Labour Party is surprised that those who foisted Buhari on Nigerians for the second time instead of burying their heads in shame still want to elongate Buhari’s (regime) in office by continuing his anti-People’s policies
“The party is amused that the Candidate is not also proud of Buhari’s achievement that it no longer campaigns with it but prefers to use his so-called achievements in Lagos to deceive Nigerians again.”
Arabambi reminded Tinubu that Lagos was just one entity out of the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, adding that Nigeria as a whole was greater than the intellectual capacity of someone whose academic background, state of origin and paternity have been shrouded in doubt and secrecy.
He noted that although it was not in doubt that the APC candidate created some jobs as former governor of Lagos State, questions needed to be asked about the kind of Jobs he created for the masses when his cronies and families had shared the plum jobs among themselves.
The LP image-maker consequently warned Nigerians not to risk allowing the “hawk to feast on our commonwealth again.”
“For the Labour Party, this is time to usher in breath of fresh air, someone with a touch of gold who can reverse the misfortune of Nigerians in the hands of kleptomaniac leadership.”
The NNPP presidential campaign council spokesman, on the other hand, disclosed that the majority of Tinubu’s promises in the manifesto are unrealistic.
Johnson said it was a proven fact all over the globe that governments could not provide enough jobs for their populace, especially with the current disruption in the entire world.
This was as he contested that all through Tinubu’s tenure as a governor of one of the richest states in Africa, he failed to either develop or nurture any research and development centre to breed innovations and start-ups.
The mouthpiece of the NNPP Presidential Candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, disclosed that it was high time Nigerians began to hold their leaders accountable for all their failed promises.
He said, “For example, what’s the government going to do to manage the supply chain? We should be concerned about how the government can create an enabling environment for the private sector to thrive and sustainable job growth will come.
“What’s his clear path to start exporting when Nigerian-made goods and services are far more expensive than the ones made outside the country because of high-cost of production.
“Infrastructure should be done by the government as basic and on a transparent PPP (Private Public Partnership). However, it must not be like the Lekki-Epe Expressway model which is exploitative.
“The current flooding in the country can provide over 70 per cent solutions to enable agricultural revolution especially in the entire northern Nigeria (as in all year round growing and production of crops).
“The APC government (federal, states and local) are known for increased taxes and levies. Will Tinubu be reversing their tax and spend policies?”
