Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu has mocked critics of the Gooduck Jonathan administration, saying they have lost their voice under the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.
Ekweremadu spoke at the weekend during the 30th Priesthood Ordination anniversary of the Bishop of Nike Diocese, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Rt. Revd. Evans Ibeagha, in Enugu.
In his lecture entitled ‘Social Contract Between Political Leaders and Citizens: The Imperatives of Participatory Democracy for Nation Building,’ the DSP represented by the Chairman, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Enugu State Chapter, Hon. Alex Ogbonnia, called for more consistency among the religious leaders, civil society, and others in checking government policies, irrespective of the individual or party in power.
He said: “It is sad that many critics who led street protests against policies of the last administration, such as the attempt to remove fuel subsidy with elaborate palliative, made a volta face when fuel subsidy was totally removed by the current administration without any iota of palliatives for Nigerians.
“Those who criticised the last administration over what they termed hardship in the land and high exchange rate of about N198 to USD1 have suddenly gone mute when the real hardship is staring the nation in the face, while exchange rate has more than doubled.
“But, if we are consistent in holding government accountable on behalf of the people, then no government will feel so comfortable that it will take the people for granted or run in exclusion of their ideas, feelings, and inputs”.
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