The Enugu State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, on Sunday threw its weight behind Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka over his recent stand on the suffering of the Nigerian masses.
Mbaka had in his most recent message lambasted former President, Goodluck Jonathan for running down the country’s economy and inflicting suffering on the people.
He had observed in the message that, “it is not easy everywhere. Hunger is everywhere. Hunger is in the atmosphere. There is sword moving about in the country. People are dying like flies. The sword of hunger is eating the land.
“The past PDP government was a Grasshopper and Locust to Nigeria. The past government was a disaster to the land of Nigeria. The past government was cancer to this country. There is no need to cover their incalculable and iniquitous mess.”
Reacting through a statement by Mrs. Kate Ofor, its Publicity Secretary, the party re-assured Nigerians that President Muhammadu Buhari would restore the country to the path of progress.
The statement reads in parts: “Let us once more salute Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka, the crusader of the masses, liberation ideologue and Head Adoration Ministry, Catholic Church Enugu State; for speaking truth to power, as evidenced by his unrelenting attack on those in power and his memorable prediction of President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory on January 1st, 2015.
“We wish to reassure Fr. Mbaka that President Buhari will not in the fullness of time disappoint Nigerians or fail to fix our dilapidated social and physical infrastructure. Never! Buhari is devotedly committed to pull Nigerians out of poverty, hunger and squalor.
“For us yesterday and for true reality is the architecture of today, and nobody can wash yesterday away. Therefore, Fr Mbaka is correct in stating that the past regimes sowed the whirlwind we are regrettably reaping today. If the $16 billion expended on power supply was prudently expended, if the 3 Greenfield Refineries awarded on 13 May, 2010 was not dead and fund decayed in the sand, if the $8.3 billion spent on the old gauge Lagos-Kano Railway were for standard gauge, if the Enugu-Onitsha, Enugu-Port Harcourt, 2nd Niger Bridge the and other federal roads monies budgeted were not eating by Locust, if the monies meant for Enugu Coal were nor embezzled and if the billions budgeted for our schools and hospitals did not grow wings; hunger couldn’t have been in the land, unemployment could have been drastically reduced and our prosperity could have been guaranteed.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we the members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Enugu State and by extension Nigeria, feel the pains and pangs of hunger, feel the gruesome hardship and abject poverty ravaging the land. We are not immuned to hunger nor the gross unemployment dislocating our youths.
“To be candid, in our close door meeting with Mr President, he disclosed that he is aware, concerned and worried over the sordid economic situation. This is why he is waging strident war against corruption. His solution is to effectively and prudently implement 2016 and subsequent budgets, so as to fix the decayed infrastructure. On the issue of being slow, Mr President pointed out that the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Procurement Act and other extant laws make it impossible for any official to expend monies not appropriated by the National Assembly. Otherwise, he could have dipped his hand into the trillions budgeted and hit the ground running.
“It is pertinent to inform as well that Mr President is embarking on economic diplomacy, traveling the length and breadth of the globe, utilizing his huge goodwill to attract foreign investors to fulfill the solemn pledge he made to the good people of Nigeria.
“It is common knowledge that destruction is very easy and reconstruction very difficult. This is the ordeal that Mr President is facing in fixing Nigeria.
“Accordingly, we wish to once more reassure Fr Mbaka, and indeed all Nigerians that in the fullness of time; nobody will regret ever voting for President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR. All he needs is prayers patience and support.”
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