APC fires back at Atiku, Amaechi, El-Rufai over ‘weaponising poverty’ comment

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has taken a swipe at the trio of former Vice president, Atiku Abubakar; former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi over their criticisms that the present administration was weaponising poverty in the country.

They spoke, separately, at the weekend on the occasion of 60th birthday of the former Rivers State Governor.

In a statement on Monday, entitled, “Amaechi, Atiku and El-Rufai- a trio united in desperation for self-serving power,” National Publicity Secretary of the ruling party, Barrister Felix Morka dismissed the trio as displaced rent-seekers, who assembled “to showcase their frenzied desperation to grab power purely for their self-aggrandizement. ”

The APC which recalled 16 years of administration of the erstwhile ruling party, the People’s Democratic Party maintained that those casting aspersions on two years of Tinubu administration failed to tackle poverty for the 16 years they were in office as Vice President, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and Rivers State Governor.

The statement reads: “These three individuals have occupied Nigeria’s highest political offices between 1999 and 2023, either as Vice President, Governors, or Ministers, among other important positions. In all 24 years, the trio, individually or collectively, could not and did not eradicate poverty in their states or the country. They did not even attempt to address, let alone tackle, the structural challenges and distortions that stifled the economy and worsened poverty over the years.

“Rather, they revelled in mindless rent-seeking behaviour, sold national assets to their cronies for mere pittance, engaged in corrupt and wasteful expenditures in their states, and relentlessly sponsored state violence against their own people.

“Take the case of Amaechi, the celebrant, who served for an unbroken total of 24 years – eight years as Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, eight years as Governor of Rivers State, and eight years as Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That’s about a quarter of a century of freeloading by Amaechi on state resources, with absolutely no record of attempting to combat poverty in his Rivers State or the country.

“When Amaechi declared, “I am hungry,” he must mean, and must be understood to mean, that he is hungry and desperate to return to his felt entitled dependency on state resources and patronage. That he is hungry barely two years out of office simply underscores the depth of the self-serving motivations of Amaechi and his coalition partners in their quest for power for selfish exploitation, and not for the interest of the people.

“Nigerians see right through their disruptive politicking. Amaechi and his cohorts are losing their grip on the economy. Accustomed to fleecing the economy, they are now compelled by Tinubu’s unprecedented reforms to adapt to a new reality where hard work, productivity, and innovation are rewarded. Their criticisms of President Tinubu’s reforms are decidedly self-serving, driven by a desperate quest for power to satiate their voracious rent-seeking appetite, which has long stifled and denied progress to the economy.”

The statement blamed the main opposition party for the parlous state of the economy and poor infrastructures as it declared that ” it was the failure of previous administrations, particularly 16 years of PDP administrations, to allow the Naira to find its real value that created the economic conditions of poverty that the present administration is now addressing.

“The erstwhile artificially overvalued Naira stifled local production, encouraged import dependency, and exacerbated poverty. Ironically, Atiku and Peter Obi, who are now vociferously criticizing President Tinubu’s policies, amassed their wealth from the very import-dependent system they are desperately trying to preserve.

“Atiku, a former Custom Officer, and Obi, a successful importer, reaped enormous benefits from the old system. Their criticisms reek of special interest masqueraded as concern for the people. By allowing market forces to determine the Naira’s value, the administration is taking necessary bold steps to catalyze economic growth, incentivize investment, boost competitiveness, and alleviate poverty.”

The APC statement which was silent on the 8 years of the Muhammadu Buhari administration further argued that “indubitably, in two years, President Tinubu has demonstrated political will to tackle structural barriers to the country’s economic growth and development far more than any other President in Nigeria’s modern history. By his bold economic reforms, President Tinubu is systematically building the most potent bulwark against poverty and positioning the economy to deliver sustained and sustainable growth and prosperity for all Nigerians.

“The criticisms variously leveled by Amaechi, Atiku, El-Rufai and Peter Obi mask a shameless attempt to perpetuate and cling to the old rent-seeking economy that enriched them at the expense of the Nigerian people.

“As beneficiaries of the corrupt and inefficient economic system, they are discomforted that Tinubu’s reforms are dismantling the insidious and permissive system that enabled and sustained their reckless plunder and exploitation of the economy.

“President Tinubu has genuinely prioritized the best interest of Nigerians over any political electoral calculation. The administration’s reforms may have transient higher cost of living implications challenges, but they are indispensable to securing a more sustainable economy that rewards hard work, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

“Mr President is on course, and will not be distracted by the selfish partisan rambling of some hardened political opportunists and economic exploiters only bent on preserving the old inefficient and permissive economic system that fed them at the expense of the common good of all.

“The best strategic interest of our economy and the good people of Nigeria must continue to trump any and all political or electoral calculations. ”

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