The Labour Party has warned the
President-elect and his party, the All Progressives Congress not to take
Nigerians for granted by backing down on their campaign promises, as the people
are expectant of real change. This is contained in a statement issued in Lagos
by the National scribe of the party. Barrister Kayode Ajulo.
According to Barrister Ajulo, “It is
quite disturbing that even before constituting his transition committee that
would examine the hand-over notes of various ministries and recommend practical
implementation strategy based on his campaign promises, President elect,
General Mohamodu Buhari has already started giving the thumb up to the
naysayers.
The basis on which those Nigerians
that voted for Buhari in the March 28 2015 presidential election did and with
so much passion was the believe that he could be an instrument of thorough and
fundamental changes carried out with the sharpness and precision of a sound
officer of the Nigerian army, though retired.
Two very important grounds on which
the general presented himself to the Nigerian electorate to canvass for support
are already being demolished by no other person than the retired general
himself.
“While in the Labour Party, we have
never hidden our support for President Goodluck Jonathan in the last election,
we have resolved to accept the results and key into those promises made by the
winner, since these democratically approximate the quest of the Nigerian
people.
It however amounts to taking the
people for granted and being insensitive to the yearnings of the public to want
to even suggest that campaign promises cannot be fulfilled by the winner at the
pace desired by the people.
Only a few days ago president elect,
Mohamodu Buhari said point blank that Nigerians should not expect miracles. The
question to ask Buhari and his co-travelers in APC is that did they promise
Nigerians miracles? If they did then honor demands that they perform such
miracles? But if they did not promise miracles but had promised to solve real
problems, then they should not expect Nigerians to fold their arms and resign
to fate. Those promises must be fulfilled significantly.
“Indeed, Nigerians need to
ask, before they made promises concerning building of refineries, power
supplies, one meal a day, dole and fighting corruption did they not
asses the realities? In what way does showing commitment to these promises make
them magicians of miracle workers? Or were those promises mere campaign
gimmicks? Were those promises part of propaganda and mere promo to run
down the incumbent and promote the then candidate of APC?
On our part for now, we would like
to believe that the promises were not mere attempts to hoodwink an entire
nation. That will be too costly for a largeopposition cobbled out of the
most disparate collection and shades of political ideas and hazy
principles by a few deft politicians.
“But again, the utterances in the
last 48 hours have again shown that Nigerians need to be on their toes so that
they are not severally raped by a bunch of power desperadoes who would make
just any promise in order to seize hold of power and treasury, then bares their
fangs after ascending the throne.
We recall that the APC’s promise to
bring home the Chibok girls was one major front in their offensive against the
Jonathan administration.
The inability of President Jonathan
to promptly defeat Boko Haram and bring back the girls alive was showcased as
evidence of incompetence and lack of commitment to security by the
government. APC promised to win the war and bring home the girls as soon
as it was handed power.
But today, like Janus with two
faces, they are showing the other face. President elect has changed the tune
from bringing home “our girls” to “I cannot promise that we can find
them.” This kind of double speak, coming from a president who in his days
as military ruler had been accused of double standards, smacks of
incorrigible bend towards broken promises. It would thus appear that
all along the APC seemed to know how dare the situation and circumstances of
the Chibok girls were, but would rather benefit from the electoral capital
of alluring promises instead of commending genuine and relentless effort
of the incumbent.
Barrister Ajulo, concluded
that “as for us in the Labour Party, we have not lost hope in the capacity of
human beings to change. It is not too late in the day for the APC to rekindle
the people’s belief in them and their capacity to largely follow through their
campaign promises.
The lesson to learn is that, it is
easy to come to power by propaganda and global conspiracy, but history has
never shown an example of rulers who endured in power on the basis of
propaganda and manipulations alone. Such manipulations, more often than not,
hasten the fall of Janus-faced regimes. A stitch in time saves nine.”
Released By
The Labour Party
National Publicity Dept.
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