Ahead of the 2019 Presidential election, the TraderMoni programme of the Federal Government has come under heavy attack for allegedly turning the Vice President, Professor Yomi Osinbajo into “Baba Loja”.
According to a spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Campaign Council, Kassim Afegbua, flayed Professor Osinbajo for “doing errand jobs” for his principal and the APC-led administration.
“Professor Yemi Osibanjo, for want of serious engagement, has become the “Baba Loja” of Nigerian markets, instead of creating platforms that would integrate our people into some kind of financial inclusion in the formal economy. This tokenism cannot sustain and endure the test of time,” he added. He called on eligible voters “to come out and vote against this regime of under-performing leaders who have not shown a discernible roadmap to lead us out of economic quagmire.”
Afegbua who stated this Monday in a chat with newsmen was responding to the vote of no confidence passed on President Buhari on Sunday by leaders of the Northern Elders Forum.
He lauded the Northern Elders Forum for their courage in dumping Buhari, whom he said has failed to perform to the expectations of Nigerians.
“The call by the Northern Elders Forum on the issue of withdrawing their support for President Buhari is a justification that they can no longer continue to support incompetence, under-performance and nepotism. The re-election of President Buhari is not what should be supported by any rational mind and sane individual.
“His wife, Aisha Buhari has spoken eloquently about the hijack of the Presidency by two powerful men who have taken over the reins of power at the helplessness of her husband. She has called on Nigerians to rise up and save the country from this outright hijack, so that we can witness progress and development,” Afegbua stated.
He further took a swipe at the first citizen citing missteps in his fight against corruption and the manner federal appointments were distributed under his watch.
“Despite all the pretentious anti-corruption crusade, where have we found ourselves? Nepotism of unparalleled and unbridled emanation has become our lot in the last three years in a country of so many diverse ethnic configurations. The President has become so provincial in his distribution of power and delivery of electoral promises.
“Unemployment is high, corruption is rife, under-performance has become the normative order, indebtedness has been on the increase while the quality of life has ebbed drastically.
“In the fullness of such maladies, how can any reasonable body of enlightened individuals opt for support of such sordid realities?” he asked.
Also speaking on the same issue, a former spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bolaji Abdullahi has called on Nigerians to jump out of the train of President Muhammadu Buhari saying the man presiding over the affairs of the nation today is not the leader Nigerians trooped out en masse to elect in 2015.
Asked to clarify what he meant by his claim that the Buhari of today is not the same Nigerians voted for in 2015; the Director, Communications and Strategies of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Presidential Campaign Organisation said he was not joining the cloning debate, insisting however that President Buhari has dumped the principles for which he was widely adored.
He said: “Some of us risked our political careers to rally round Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 and today we have realised that we are in a one-chance vehicle. But I say that having realized where we are, it is time to get down from that one-chance vehicle.
“The Northern Elders Forum was one of the strongest supporters of Buhari in 2015 but they have now realised that the Buhari we have today is the not the Buhari they voted for in 2015.
“The Buhari most of us risked our political careers for was the Buhari whose memory we carried with us since 1983. That Buhari had zero tolerance for corruption and was a strong -willed leader.
“But the Buhari of today has been receiving corrupt people into his party who are hoping he will give them cover. Today, the position of the Northern Elders Forum has vindicated some of us who saw the wisdom in leaving the party (APC) to join the crusade to rescue Nigeria.”
It would be recalled that the Northern Elders on Sunday, withdrew their support for President Buhari, accusing him of failing to deliver on his 2015 electioneering campaign promises.
