National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Tuesday, took a swipe at the ruling People’s Democratic Party, calling it and its current administration a ‘robber government with deaf leaders.’
Tinubu, who made this pronouncement in his New year message,said, this was why the APC was moving with zeal to salvage the country.
He recalled two incidents within 2013- the disappearance of $11billion from the Federal earnings, being unremitted income by the NNPC and President Jonathan’s seeming casual way of dealing with the Boko Haram insurgency-as reasons enough for Nigerians to drop their support for the PDP and its government for the APC, which he described as a vehicle to generate and accelerate the process of change towards the most beneficial end for the greatest number of our people.
Tinubu promised that his party would not re-enact the mis governance of the PDP when it comes into power as a result of the anticipated change in the country’s leadership and governance. He listed areas of concentration by his party to include presenting an economic alternative plan, communicating with the people and practising internal party democracy.
In his words, “we may not be perfect but we are dedicated to the well-being of something far greater and more important than ourselves.
“We seek a better Nigeria for all Nigerians. Thus, we are no more like the PDP than a broom is like the dirt it sweeps away.
“We do not copy the deafness of the ruling party. We shall orchestrate a new music of enlightenment, progress and hope for this country.
“As it moves nearer, the sound of imminent change will become music to the many. Those in power will dread it because the tune they want to hear comes not of the people’s happiness but from their misery.”
Continuing, he said: “recently the media published reports of a letter from the CBN governor alleging a $50 billion dollar shortfall in revenues NNPC deposited into the federation account.
“After a frenzied dash to reconcile the irreconcilable accounting books kept by this government, it was reported that only approximately $11 billion was unaccounted!
“We have dropped so far that somehow losing $11 billion is now a sign of fiscal rectitude! This is tragic.
“In an atmosphere of good governance, this amount would never grow legs and walk away unnoticed. If it did, senior officials would have been duly escorted to the police station for criminal investigation.
“Under this administration, the matter is swept aside as if it is a minor thing, like a broken tea cup on the floor. If this government can treat a missing $11 billion dollars like a minor accounting infraction, much more than a teacup needs to be swept away. This robber government needs to feel the broom and the sweep of change as well.
“Regarding Boko Haram and our challenges of domestic security, President Jonathan gave a recent statement that showed no urgency or initiative. Instead, he told Nigerians to be happy because things could be worse. ‘t least, we are not like Syria or other war-ravaged lands, he said.
“In the face of the nation’s greatest security challenge since the Civil War, this is the presidential policy: to lay low and measure your failure relative to the failure of other nations. As long as other nations suffer conditions worse than ours, we should accept our fate and commend government for allowing only one of our legs to be amputated and not both.
“Jonathan’s hands-off, laissez faire approach to civil insurrection does not commend itself to national greatness or wise statecraft. It is a lazy and dangerous policy he promotes. This nation will not improve simply by being content that we are not as bad as other nations. That is not way of improvement. It is the excuse of a leader grown too comfortable with failure.”