The performance of the current administration under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari has being rated ‘very poor and unimpressive’.
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, who made this remark on Sunday, said his party had dashed the hope of many Nigerians with its change promises.
He also warned the party against repeating the mistakes made by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which led to its ouster from power during the 2015 general election.
Baraje, a close ally of Senate President, Bukola Saraki, while speaking during a media briefing in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, said Nigerians were not happy with the socio-economic and political development in the country.
He cited the current petrol scarcity, poor electricity supply and hunger as some of the hardships being experienced by Nigerians.
Baraje said, “I belong to the group that is not very satisfied with the performance of the party; not only because the Senate President is having a very serious political issue, but because there are other cases and instances where we are not happy with the performance of our party.
“I am not a prophet of doom, neither am I a political prostitute. Are you happy going to queue up for up to two to three hours? Are you happy that electricity is not functioning well and people sleep in darkness?
“What we are saying is that majority of Nigerians are not happy and we need to make them happy.
“Majority of Nigerians are suffering and we need to make our impact felt by addressing the suffering of the masses.”
The party chieftain, however, added that it was too early for him to contemplate leaving the APC.
Baraje said, “The PDP made me. I was the National Secretary and later become the National Chairman of the PDP. I made my mark. If I have to be grateful to any political party, I think, it is the PDP.
“So, if I can leave that party, then you will know that the party had gone contrary seriously against my principles of life.
“If I can leave the PDP because of impunity, lack of respect for the rule of law; then do I want to continue in another party that way? But it has not got to that level. That is why we are sounding a note of warning that gradually some of these problems are creeping into the APC. And we must warn ourselves.”
But in a response, the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, described Baraje’s comments as unfortunate.
He said, “We are working on a solution in the medium term; short term, yes we can make the fuel queues disappear but we don’t want the problem to re-occur and to do that, you have to work out a solution that will be long-lasting.
“If people want to play to the gallery they are at liberty to do so, they know why they are doing what they are doing.”
He said, “At the moment, we know these problems (power outages and fuel queues) are there because it is a case of corruption fighting back.
“We are not resting on our oars; we are working hard and very soon all these problems will be over. Nigerians will certainly win this battle.”
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