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The leadership of the Labour Party and African Democratic Congress have expressed divergent views over President Bola Tinubu’s failure to tell Nigerians how long the economic hardship would last in his nationwide broadcast on New Year’s Day.
Tinubu had appealed to Nigerians to ignore side distractions that were capable of undermining the nation’s growth and development amid promises that his administration was working to bring relief and deliver the dividends of democracy to the people.
He noted that while the nation continued to stay on the right course to prosperity, some persons “still see things through the prisms of politics, ethnicity, region and religion.”
Reacting, the National Secretary of the Labour Party, Umar Farouk said despite the pains of the excruciating hardship, Tinubu deserved to be given the benefit of the doubt.
Farouk, in an interview with Sunday PUNCH, said, “We also have to continue to pray for a better Nigeria. So when a leader gives hope, it is only fair to wait to see whether it will manifest. We have seen the hardship being encountered right from the beginning of this administration since they announced their reforms.
“We shall continue to hope that 2025 will turn out to be the year when Nigerians will start reaping the benefit of their patience. We can’t be an opposition that will continue to predict doom for Nigeria.
“Instead, we should hope the country becomes better, despite not having our own candidate in position. What we should be clamouring for good governance and hope President Tinubu gives Nigerians the dividend of democracy.”
The Deputy National Chairman of LP, Ayo Olorunfemi, also shared Farouk’s sentiment, saying Nigerians could only continue to hope that things turn around for good.
Olorunfemi, who recently lost the Ondo governorship election to the incumbent Lucky Aiyedatiwa, also expressed concerns that unless Tinubu guarded the system and institutions against external influence, Nigeria would continue to wallow in the woods.
He said, “In truth, we don’t have any choice. He is the President and he has four years to rule. We are already in the boat. Everybody should be praying that the boat doesn’t sink. That is my own take on it. It is difficult to even believe anything again.
“If you look at the country today, evil has now become good and good has become evil. So, Tinubu has a very long way to go. So, for us to make any headway, we need to build confidence in our system and institutions, not the ones controlled from outside.
“Once institutions are not what they ought to be, it will erode the confidence of the people. Again, if our institutions are not working, the right thing will never be done. As long as we continue in that trajectory, it is only people who know how to do evil that will continue to thrive.”
But the National Chairman of African Democratic Congress, Ralph Nwosu, disagreed with the two.
Nwosu who spoke with Sunday PUNCH on Friday, posited that it would take about six years for any responsible country to survive an economic reform and start enjoying the benefits.
He said, “The reforms introduced by this government including the fuel subsidy removal cannot just go away. The minimum time to recover from this is six years. I can predict that. I don’t see any foundation that has been laid. Everything is going South.
“Again, you don’t go about giving people assurance by fiat. For you to assure the people, they have to see clearly what is on ground or the foundation that has been laid. The foundation Tinubu has laid from the beginning was that he promised the people there will be ‘agbado, garri and ewa.’
“But what he has offered so far fell short of that promise. I am one of those who said Tinubu started this journey a long time ago when he was a NADECO member. For him to have walked the rope and somehow managed to grab power according to his own philosophy is great.”
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