By Daniel Kanu
The former Minister of Transport and chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Ebenezer Babatope, has slammed the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government on its inability to fix the festering problems in the country, particularly, insecurity and the economy.
Having critically watched with a keen interest in the state of governance in Nigeria in recent times, Babatope gave a damning verdict that the All Progressives Party (APC) has nothing better to offer Nigerians.
The elder statesman told The Niche that the ruling party (APC) was driving the country to a dangerous ditch and that unless something urgent was done the country would be grounded.
While campaigning for the 2015 general elections, President Buhari’s APC made promises to end Boko Haram terrorism and secure the country for it to be efficiently managed; to restructure the economy, halt its downward slide and create jobs and to fight corruption because, as the president repeatedly says, “if Nigeria doesn’t kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria.”
But Babatope said that nothing has improved under this government”.
His words:
“Look at the way the economy is going. Look at the debt profile. They can conjure any figure, they can dismiss any figure. The APC has destroyed our politics and they are not sparing the economy. They are killing the economy by the day and Nigerians are seeing and feeling the heat.
“You cannot fool the people all the time. Propaganda cannot sustain you for long and you can see the result that we are getting. You do not need any statistics to know things are bad because the people are hungry.
“When the people are hungry and not secured of their life then what do you expect? When there is no power how can businesses survive? Industries are relocating out of the country; do you blame them? I wish the APC the best of luck”.
On insecurity, he said that nobody was safe any longer, urging the government to rise up to the challenge they promised to tackle while in the opposition.
According to him, “Nobody is safe again. The situation is terrible. You can see the stories everywhere on how lives are being wasted as if they are no longer human beings.
“There are killings upon killings everywhere, and it’s very frightening. The state of insecurity in the country is just terrible. The people are hungry, many cannot get even one square meal a day to eat, there is no electricity in the country, I shudder at what is happening.
“You ask yourself: is this really the change Nigerians wanted? Is this, what Nigerians bargained for? What we see is a show of shame as far as leadership is concerned. This country cannot be better if we continue this way”.