By Danladi Ahmed
The Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG) has said that the manner in which former Vice President Atiku Abubakar was dismissive of President Bola Tinubu’s policies shows that he is not in touch with the political realities of the country.
Speaking in a recent TV interview, Abubakar had suggested that he would reverse every action and policy carried out by President Bola Tinubu if he wins the 2027 Presidential election.
But in a statement signed by its Chairman Emeka Nwankpa and Secretary Dapo Okubanjo, the group wondered if the chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) would indeed return the country to the inglorious era of fuel subsidy and multiple foreign exchange rates.
The group maintained that the attendant positive fallout of the policies particularly the quantum leap which the economy has recorded has been a subject of rave reviews by global ratings agencies including the World Bank and IMF.
It said: “For a man that has not had a lengthy interview since he lost his bid for the Presidency at his sixth attempt in 2023, it was not a surprise that many Nigerians looked forward to knowing his thoughts on national issues outside of the press statements his media handlers issue regularly..
“We indeed expected that as a leading member of the opposition, he would amplify all the anti-Tinubu rhetoric which his media handlers had usually bored Nigerians with, so no one would have been surprised to hear him brand the government as the worst ever.
“When he was asked what he would do differently if elected next year, it beggars belief to hear him vow to reverse all policies of President Tinubu’s administration..
“Like many Nigerians who watched the interview, we have been wondering if it means that Atiku, as President, would reverse the removal of fuel subsidy which he had also promised to end during his 2023 campaigns? What about the harmonisation of the foreign exchange markets which we also know he had vowed to carry out?
“We are aware that there is a tax reform in place, courtesy of the Tinubu administration. Aside from the students’ loan, NELFUND, and the newly introduced Consolidated Salary Structure for University lecturers which has given academics a new lease of life and finally killed the ghost of perennial strikes in Nigeria’s once-crisis- ridden university system.
“What about the Consumer Credit Scheme which has given many Nigerians the opportunity to get household stuff on credit without having to pay outright, as it is done in countries with a strong middle-class bracket?
“It is also worth asking if the former Vice President would also consider stopping the ongoing legacy projects across the country, amongst other purposeful structures the incumbent administration has put in place to the satisfaction of many Nigerians?
“Here is a former Vice President who served in an administration that institutionalised commercial motorcycle operation, a.k.a Okada, as a poverty alleviating scheme pontificating on good governance and vowing to roll back sound policies that are bound to make life better for the average Nigerian.
“For us, it is either the man who spends much of his time in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is sabre-rattling, out of touch or resisting the reality in Nigeria or he is simply lashing out in anger because Tinubu got, at his first attempt, what he sought for all his political life.
“This is because it is worrisome that a man with the sort of public sector experience Atiku has, could be so angry, in fact infuriated, to the extent of being dismissive of policies of an incumbent administration which many Nigerians have hailed as impressive.
“It is however not surprising that Atiku has not seen anything good in the Tinubu administration because it is on record that he made similar comments while assessing the administrations of former Presidents Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, who at various successive times stopped him from attaining his longtime political ambition.
“Judging from his reckless comments in the interview, he would be out to whip up sectional sentiments in what he has said would be his final attempt at the Presidency but we are convinced that it would end like the six previous ones-on the canvass.”
The group urged Nigerians to ensure that the former Vice President does not get the chance to reverse the progress the country has made under the Tinubu administration otherwise it would end up as a trip to Siberia.
End.