EXCERPT: Pan-Yoruba group Afenifere has accused Tinubu’s government of policy failures, propaganda, and eroding Nigeria’s democratic structures.
Afenifere, on Sunday, knocked President Bola Tinubu on the occasion of his second year in office, saying his renewed hope has turned into a nightmare for Nigerians.
Afenifere, in a statement by its Leader and National Publicity Secretary, Oba Oladipo Olaitan and Justice Faloye, said the midterm report of the Tinubu administration has shown that every human development and socio-political index had regressed.
It also accused the administration of engaging in “massive propaganda claiming false successes.”
The statement read: “The Midterm Report shows that every human development and sociopolitical index has regressed since the coming to office of the President Bola Tinubu administration, turning the promise of renewed hope to a nightmare of regressing hopelessness and despair.
“Rather than take full responsibility for the unmitigated sufferings inflicted on Nigerians in the past two years on account of its wrong policy choices and wasteful spending, the Tinubu administration has engaged in massive propaganda claiming false successes and shifting blame to global and historical factors, and showing scant empathy for ordinary Nigerians.
“Basically, due to unforced errors, especially the oversight of the production element of subsidies and floating the Naira, without any preparation to cushion the predictable impact, the Tinubu Economic Reforms has turned out to be Tinubu Economic Deforms.
“A Prebendal Government for the privileged and connected. Despite the Tinubu administration’s economic policies causing huge inflation that cut real wages in over half, only 4.1% of the Nigeria population in the civil service had their wages increased by 38%.
“Reliance on unproven channels for the distribution of pitiable halfhearted food and other palliatives were corruptly split among those connected, while uncontested mega projects were brazenly given to those with well known connections to the president.
“It is obvious that the Tinubu administration has no intention of delivering the greatest good for the greatest number of Nigerians.
“Two years into its tenure, and contrary to its well-advertised electoral promise, the Tinubu administration is yet to implement Oronsaye Report to cut cost of governance, instead the costs have ballooned with new cost centres for cronies to milk.
”The tone of government at all levels is one of profligate ‘jaiye jaiye’ lifestyle, while the masses are being berated about Nigeria’s wasteful past and the imperative of sacrifice to restore fiscal integrity.
“The government’s first supplementary budget and subsequent budgets were spent on not only preserving but increasing the luxurious lifestyle of those in government – new Presidential jet, Cadillac limousines, N160 million cars for each federal legislator and scandalous increase in unaccounted constituency projects worth billions to each legislator.
“In the quest for absolute power, the Tinubu administration is trading off lives of Nigerians by refusing to devolve power for state police. The Tinubu administration is destructuring instead of restructuring the military-imposed constitution, towards true federalism.
“It has shown increasingly centralising tendencies to further weaken the federalist elements in the constitution by attacking federating units with the takeover of their administrative units, known as local governments.
“Tinubu is destructuring the pillars of our democracy by neutralising the legislature and judiciary put in place for balance of power and robust representative governance. It is obvious that the agenda is a one party state totalitarianism.”
Chuks Okocha
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