The Democratic Front (TDF) has condemned what it described as a desperate attempt by the National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), David Mark, to deflect attention from the current global acclaim of the economic reforms of the President Bola Tinubu administration.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Mallam Danjuma Muhammad and Secretary, Chief Wale Adedayo, the group argued that the former Senate President was exaggerating negative narratives about poverty in Nigeria.
The statement reads in part: “It is rather unbelievable that David Mark who presided over the Nigerian Senate between 2007 and 2015, under a government that had the good fortune of pumping 2.3 million barrels of crude per day and consistently sold at over $100 per barrel, and yet was unable to guarantee workers’ salaries at federal and state level, will dismiss the economic milestones achieved by the current administration.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the President Tinubu-led administration did not have the benefit of the massive crude the then Federal Government had but has since embarked on socio-economic re-engineering that has increased growth and productivity, mitigated inflationary trend from 34% to 15%, boosted external reserves beyond the $46 billion mark, and doubled the federation’s revenue in less than three years.
“We want to remind the former Senate President that his stint as head of the national assembly was the most uneventful in the history of infrastructural development in the country.
“So much money was earned from the sale of crude oil for six consecutive years, but the country was left without any capital infrastructural project worth N50 billion in any part of Nigeria.
“It was the failure by David Mark and his colleagues in the successive governments of PDP to put multi-billion petro dollars into appropriate use for the Nigerian people, that laid the foundation for poverty in the land which ballooned to 60.9% as of 2010, not President Tinubu’s reforms, as alleged by the ADC National Chairman.
“History will also remember him as the Minister of Communication, who stirred national uproar in 1988, by asserting that telephones and telecommunications services are not for the poor.
“We find it interesting and also Ironic that the same David Mark has suddenly become an advocate of the poor, out of a desperate bid to further personal political gains and advantages.
“From every indication, the opposition African Democratic Congress is overwhelmed and intimidated by the rise in the positive outcome of ongoing economic reforms under the watch of the All Progressives Congress APC-led administration.
“We acknowledged that the global acclaim of President Tinubu’s reforms is too loud to be ignored by the Nigerian electorate, and this has largely unsettled the opposition, whose defeat in the 2027 elections is imminent.
“The ADC National Chairman and his party members should know that spinning negative narratives to minimise President Tinubu’s record of performance at this point, will not help their party.
“This is because Nigerians are appreciating the significant reduction in inflation, facilitation of access to funding university education for millions of indigent students through NELFUND, and the emergence of sustainable trade and employment opportunities created in Agriculture, Solid Minerals, and other non-oil sectors of the economy.
“Other areas of interest to the people also include; the stability in exchange rate, the elimination of arbitrage and round tripping of foreign exchange, and the huge accruals in national revenue for the overall development and security of the nation.”
The group added that the success of the Tinubu reforms is of utmost importance to the people than the petty politics of David Mark and his allies
