The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that Monday’s Presidential media chat further confirmed the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration’s insensitivity to the widespread hardship and suffering Nigerians face due to the ill-implemented and anti-people policies of the ruling party.  

Also, Northern leaders, under the umbrella of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), have lamented the hardship and poverty facing Nigerians as they celebrate Christmas, urging the citizens to pray for the country to overcome the present socio-economic challenges.
 
The main opposition party noted that President Bola Tinubu’s unrelenting stance on the sudden removal of fuel subsidy without any measure to mitigate the effect on the productive sector, high cost of living and associated hardship, which is now driving citizens to extreme poverty and early death, also confirmed APC’s disconnection from the primary purpose of government, which is the welfare and security of the citizens.
 
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, in a statement, yesterday, noted, “Nigerians are bearing the brunt of the failure and inability of the APC administration under his watch to effectively police and secure our nation’s borders as to prevent the smuggling of petroleum products to neighbouring countries.”
 
The PDP said it was disturbed that “while the APC has failed to account for the proceeds saved from the removal of subsidy, Nigerians are subjected to crushing economic hardship because the administration has failed in its fundamental duty of ensuring the territorial integrity of our nation.”
 
According to the party, which ruled Nigeria for 16 years, Nigerians are appalled that instead of admitting failure and seeking solutions, the President again claimed that the nation’s economy has improved under his watch, when in reality the situation worsened with the comatose productive sector, deteriorating value of the naira at N1,700 to the United States dollar, 34.6 per cent inflation and 40 per cent unemployment rate in the last 18 months.
 
“The widespread food stampede in various parts of the country, which recently led to the death of about 80 Nigerians, shows that our nation is indeed in perilous times under the APC,” PDP stressed.
 
The opposition party submitted that there was no hope in sight under the APC, given its failure to embark on meaningful investments in critical sectors, including agriculture and food production, electricity, petroleum and gas, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs), which are the real drivers of the national economy.
 
It expressed shock at Tinubu’s claim that “Nigerians can now freely and safely travel by road,” despite the horrible reality of banditry, kidnapping and armed robbery, as well as the worsened condition of highways across the country under the APC.
 
The PDP challenged Tinubu to travel from Abuja to Lagos by road, visit any of the markets in the country or take a walk on the street of any city in Nigeria to properly appreciate the real situation in the country, rather than relying on fabricated statistics being bandied by officials of his government.

REJOICING with all, ACF prayed for God’s grace and mercies for Nigeria, as the people celebrate the Christmas and New Year amid daunting existential economic, social and political challenges, as well as a state of debilitating insecurity, corruption, nepotism in the polity and disappointing political representation.

According to the statement signed by ACF National Publicity Secretary, Prof Tukur Muhammed-Baba, yesterday, as has sadly become all too familiar, communities in Nigeria’s North continue to bear disproportionate burden of the negative effects of the aforementioned challenges.  

“This is not to downplay the effect of the problems on people in other parts of the country; but the situation in the North remains dire, even as people fervently look forward to a better future,” he said.