NNPP joins PDP to blast APC for picking holes in Atiku’s warning that “gives voice to the voiceless”
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
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“I do not think that the APC should enjoy the luxury of simply trying to blackmail anyone who raises genuine fears about the situation of the country.
“If one says that there is hunger in the land and people are suffering, I do not think that has gone too far. If someone is warning that please do something as a government, it is just a warning. It is not a call to arms” – Johnson, NNPP National Publicity Secretary.
“All Atiku actually said, or what he actually did, is giving a voice to the thoughts of millions of Nigerians spread across the length and breadth of this country, who find it nearly impossible to survive with two square meals a day.
“The truth is that the cost of living in this country has reached a point that if something is not done about it, we may soon become a beggarly nation.
“They are only vilifying and harassing Atiku because they know that what he said is true, and they don’t want Nigerians to have a voice.
“If they are very confident that they have done well, let them write to the Inspector General of Police to withdraw the orderlies and the hundreds of policemen guarding them, so they can walk free, and let’s really know if the people are truly happy with them” – Osadolor, PDP Deputy National Youth Leader.
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Bola Tinubu’s All Progressives Congress (APC) is under raps from the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) which has joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to blast APC’s reaction to the hunger warning sounded by Atiku Abubakar.
Atiku, former Vice President, alerted that Tinubu’s economic policies could spark public outrage comparable to the French and Russian revolutions if hunger and hardship are not checked.
The APC dismissed the alert as “dangerous and anti-democratic” as well as “reckless, irresponsible and a tacit instigation of revolution,” and accused Atiku of stoking unrest to destabilise the Tinubu regime.
But NNPP and PDP leaders countered that the APC is only trying to gag critics and deflect attention from Nigeria’s economic woes.
NNPP National Publicity Secretary Ladipo Johnson insisted that Atiku did nothing wrong in giving such a warning.
“I do not think Atiku would be involved in inciting the Nigerian citizenry. As an elder statesman, I trust that he will not go that far. However, statesmen, when need be, must be bold enough to stand up and speak truth to power,” Johnson told The PUNCH.
“They must be bold enough to tell the country what the situation of the country is, where things are lacking, and need improvement. I do not think that the APC should enjoy the luxury of simply trying to blackmail anyone who raises genuine fears about the situation of the country.
“If one says that there is hunger in the land and people are suffering, I do not think that has gone too far. If someone is warning that please do something as a government, it is just a warning. It is not a call to arms.”
PDP Deputy National Youth Leader Timothy Osadolor also declared that Atiku merely “gave voice to the thoughts of millions who can hardly afford two meals a day.”
Osadolor added: “It is shameful and painful at the same time when you see people entrusted with public trust, taking care of public finances, and taxpayers’ money, acting and behaving the way these members of the current APC government are doing.
“Because they live in a cocoon, they are very much isolated from the realities of everyday Nigeria.
“Now, all Atiku actually said, or what he actually did, is giving a voice to the thoughts of millions of Nigerians spread across the length and breadth of this country, who find it nearly impossible to survive with two square meals a day.
“The truth is that the cost of living in this country has reached a point that if something is not done about it, we may soon become a beggarly nation.
“They are only vilifying and harassing Atiku because they know that what he said is true, and they don’t want Nigerians to have a voice.
“If they are very confident that they have done well, let them write to the Inspector General of Police to withdraw the orderlies and the hundreds of policemen guarding them, so they can walk free, and let’s really know if the people are truly happy with them.”
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