By Olayinka Ajayi
National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Bolaji Abdullahi, has berated the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, for not addressing fresh reports on 17 million Nigerians living in abject poverty.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, Abdullahi insisted that what the ruling party is after is the “next election.”
He said, “We have to ask ourselves if they truly believe in democracy. When we say we shall build a nation where justice and peace shall reign, that imposes responsibility on us. Democracy, by its definition, is the right of the people to choose. So whatever you do to truncate the right of the people to choose undermines democracy.
“Our politics has become cynical, that people engage in demagoguery as politics. The country is sinking under their watch. The last report we had was that 17 million Nigerians are starving to death under their watch. That is the population of many countries and the President has not said a word. And democracy is anchored on the principle that you want to make life better for the people. That is one thing that this government does not care about.
“If you listen to them, they have only one problem — not kidnapping, not hunger. The only problem they have, as far as they are concerned, is 2027. When you listen to them, that is what they talk about, as if they are in opposition. As if their mandate has ended and they don’t have a duty to solve the problems that the country is confronted with.”
He added, “The coalition that led us to ADC was based on the recognition that this country is in the mess we are in today because of the kind of politics we have played over the years. And Nigeria is not going to get out of this mess until we play a different politics. It was the desire to play a different politics that led to the coalition.”
