Dr Lukman Salihu
Ex- vice chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the North-west, Salihu Lukman has taken his party to task for blaming opposition political parties for Tuesday mass protests in Niger and Kano states over economic hardship.
Lukman said on Wednesday that the governing party is no longer pretending to be progressive.
According to him, “The protests in Minna and Kano confirm the validity of the concerns raised as far back as August 2023.
“Sadly, six months after those concerns were raised, the situation is only getting worse as prices of food items are beyond the reach of most Nigerians.
“If the truth must be told, there is hunger in the land! As a committed member of APC, it is very depressing that this is happening under the leadership of our party.
“Even more depressing was the statement issued by Mr. Felix Morka, our National Publicity Secretary, alleging that opposition parties are behind the protests.
“For Mr. Morka to issue such a very dishonest statement points to only one thing: that the leadership of our party has completely lost it, and at this rate, their political utility value is zero.
“This clearly suggests that even the old pretences about being progressive have been thrown to the dogs.”
Lukman said, “floating” the naira without stopping unnecessary imports has led the country to where it is.
“Floating the naira against other major currencies without taking the needed steps to reduce imports will also produce what we have today, whereby the value of the naira is permanently on a downward slide.”
