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Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has joined thousands of Nigerians, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo and ex-Governor Rashidi Ladoja of Oyo State, to condemn harsh and “incompetent” leadership style of All the Progressives Congress (APC).
One of the two remaining governors of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Southwest-Nigeria, Governor Fayose berated President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) for putting Nigeria and Nigerians under a serious economic hardship which has turned millions of able-bodied Nigerians to beggars and jobless people.
The governor spoke with BDSUNDAY barely two weeks after the duo of former President Obasanjo and ex-Governor Ladoja x-rayed APC-led Federal Government on its incompetent political style and harsh economic policies which have put Nigerians at crossroads of good reasoning and action.
It will be recalled that Obasanjo had earlier criticised leadership style of both APC and PDP when the factional national Chairman of PDP, Ali-Modu Sheriff paid him a courtesy visit at his Hilltop residence in Abeokuta where the former President noted that he has no dependable political leadership in both PDP and APC.
He said: “Because, for our democracy to thrive, we need a strong political party in government and strong political party in opposition, for democracy to be strong and dynamic.
“Today PDP cannot claim to be a strong party in opposition. I don’t know if APC can claim at the national level to be a strong party in government now either, that is part of the misfortune of this country today. That has been the case.
“It must be the concern of all Nigerians that the present democratic dispensation must not be allowed to be derailed. And for it not to be derailed, we must have a strong political party in government and a strong political party as opposition.
“Now, when they talk of institution, a political party is an institution and in a democracy, it’s a very important institution that we must all nourish, we must all cherish.”
Also, the former governor of Oyo State and national leader of Accord Party (AP), Ladoja declared that the economic recession currently afflicting the country was due to incompetence and high-handedness of Buhari-led APC, but said APC and Buhari must act fast in order not to cause bad experience of Arab Spring.
He said in Ibadan when he was speaking with some journalists that “We should continue to pray we don’t fall into the same situation as countries that experienced the Arab Spring. Anybody who saw Syria before and now will know that something has happened.
“Egypt before the Arab Spring and Egypt of today are not the same. The same thing goes for Libya and Iraq. And these are areas where civilisation was already advanced.”
But, Governor Fayose, who spoke to our correspondent through Olalere Olayinka, his special adviser on media, declared that going by harsh economic conditions of the country at present as being caused by the APC-led Federal Government, Buhari and APC would lose if elections were to be held today.
He said: “You can see the hardship and suffering that have been brought upon Nigerians in the last one-and-half years; it can be seen by everybody. I doubt if Nigerians will vote for a party that has only ruled for a little above one year and the economy is crumbling.
“I doubt if Nigerians will vote for the party, as at the time it was coming the bag of rice was N8,000 but now almost double the old price. I doubt if Nigerians will vote for a party that has brought untold hardship on them.”
Also, a political analyst, Jimoh Salman said that the APC government is using ‘slow race approach’ in piloting Nigeria’s affairs, explaining that, “The APC government is trying, but managing economy has been the major challenge.
“Thus, they should be adequately responsive to revive Nigerian economy. People need to see tangible outcome from the ruling party. We are in democracy; it should be translated to meaningful government.
“The government needs to focus more on economy, work assiduously to fully implement the budget, transform economy and above all, continue to diversify our economy through education, agriculture, sports and entertainment as we are endowed with many resources to tap on for improving and maintaining productivity and stimulate our economy in the country.
“The government should engage people directly, they need to have effective political solution to Niger Delta crisis, and improve on physical and monitoring policy and embrace transparency”.
But contrary to what Fayose, Obasanjo, Ladoja and others said on the leadership style of APC and President Buhari, Bukola Imam, a civil servant, said: “Though, we are in hard times, I believe things will soon change for better.
