The nation’s leading opposition party, the PDP, deserves to be commended for laying a good foundation for a democratic government in the country in 1999 while the President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s policy failures are not in any way excusable.
Ilorin West/Asa PDP House of Representatives candidate, Alhaji Mohammed Ibrahim Ajia said this on Thursday when he sat down with journalists including Team@orientactualmags.com at his Ilorin residence to share his thoughts on national issues.
Ajia , who noted that the PDP though took over from a military government and inherited the constitution prepared by the same military government in 1999 but yet did all that were required to lay a good foundation that had since helped to strengthen the democratic government.
He also argued that the PDP while controlling government at the federal level had better approaches to economic issues while the failures recorded under APC government are not excusable.
‘What was the situation in the country in 2015 when these people were taking over. And some people do say some things and I keep asking them which one is the most difficult; is it those that took over from the military when there was no respect for rule of law or those that took over from a democratic government? You see when they bring excuses and I look at them. If you remember in 1999 when democracy returned, it was the military that handed over government to the PDP.
There was no constitution. People were on exile. Till today, we’re still recovering the funds that were taken away. And all the instruments that are being used to provide all these things were set up by the PDP. I think Nigerians should thank and apologize to the PDP because it was not easy to take over power from the military.
These people took over from a democratically elected president and look at the mess they have created today. Nothing is working, just think of anything in Nigeria, the answer is ‘it is not working’ he submitted.
Ahead of the presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled to hold on 25 February 2023, Alhaji Ibrahim Ajia also urged Nigerians to disallow those who have considered presidency as an entitlement from getting into power.
‘We do not need someone who will become the president and now again begin to learn the process. And also I want us to speak against people who think ruling this country is an entitlement.
It was this idea of someone seeing it as an entitlement that brought us to where we are today. We’ve never had it this bad and I have been an advocacy of campaign against the CBN governor from day one. Even though at the moment he’s trying to bring in a policy that is okay in terms of tackling insecurity and corruption, but because of the approach and the method of carrying out this thing and also because the party itself will fight anything that will be considered as good for the country. So these are the challenges that we are facing in this country. How again will anybody who is medically and mentally sound go anywhere and say ‘vote for APC’. It’s like the person is saying let’s destroy this country’ he submitted..
Commenting on the growing tension in the country sequel to the scarcity of petrol and new naira notes and the concomitant hardships, Ajia urged Nigerians especially the young people to keep calm and not heat up the polity but rather wait until the Election Day and help to produce a new set of leaders that will change things for the better.
‘This country must exist in the midst of this whole thing. So in as much as we are lamenting about the situation, we must also tell our people to calm down and let them know that the solution is around the corner. The best way to change the situation in democracy is by voting. The opportunity to participate in elections is coming and I want to urge that the people should remain calm and not take to violence. I want to urge our young people to suspend all forms of protests and destruction of commercial banks and businesses belonging to others. But they should rather remain committed and be prepared to vote leaders that will change the narratives of this country into power’ he said.
The PDP reps candidate also opined that the LP presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi had only taken advantage of the fact that young Nigerians had become vulnerable because things had gone really bad in the country.
‘Anywhere you go in the country you’ll see that population explosion is the order of the day and young people who are just coming up, they are in millions in every community you go to. And I looked at them ,I asked ‘what does the country hold for them?
The way things are going now is the reason why they feel there’s no more hope. Today, you see Peter Obi being celebrated by some young people. There’s nothing special about Peter Obi but it’s just that the young people are already vulnerable and that’s why I call him an opportunist. He was a presidential aspirant in PDP, even the delegates from Anambra state would not vote for him. It was at that moment that he now took advantage of the vulnerable young Nigerians who have been agitating that they wanted something outside the system that we have. And that’s why I keep saying this, I tell young people when they ask for my opinion about Obidient-Yusful movement, and I try to enlighten them. Peter Obi does not have the capacity. Peter cannot take Nigeria out of its woes. We all know that he’s just an opportunist. As governor of Anambra state, he was a separatist. We all know this, the records are there.
Peter Obi is a capitalist as described by a musician which is the reality. He’s been able to make himself more rich just because he was the governor of Anambra State. That’s just it. Like I keep asking, where are the people that worked with Peter when he was the governor? Where is his deputy? Where are his commissioners? Who are those businesspeople that Peter has uplifted? Because for me, the yardstick to measure performance of any government is to see how many people we have developed and made to become employers of labour.
Our major problem today is that there’s no job anywhere. So we need to look at this whole thing and try to advise our people, especially the young people that we know that there are problems in the country. The country is vulnerable; the young people are virtually becoming hopeless.
We should look back and look at Nigeria that had worked before. Who made it work? What was the situation when PDP was ruling this country? And what’s the situation today? So today we have a political party in power that is not a political party. It was just an association of people who are interested in power and resources, and that’s why we can never get anything meaningful from them.
Today, we are not even sure if we have a president in this country. We’re now having two presidents; one is giving instructions, a governor is sitting in Kaduna countering the instructions of the president’ he said.
Alhaji Ajia also described PDP Presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as the best and most qualified among those seeking to become Nigeria’s next president.
‘We have been shouting from day one that this country can only work when you have somebody who has the character, competence and the capacity, gentlemen of the press, if you look at all the presidential candidates the only person who can fix the problems of this country is Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Not because he’s a member of my party, you can check his track record, his ability to unify the country, his business orientation and his knowledge of security’ he said.
The PDP reps candidate has also urged Nigerians to prioritize experience and competence above money as they get ready to choose a new president and federal lawmakers next week while also sending an important message to the electors in Asa/Ilorin West federal constituency.
‘My message to my people in Ilorin West/Asa Federal Constituency is that this is a rare opportunity to have somebody that will speak for us, somebody that will ensure quality, responsive and effective representation in the House of Representatives because there is nothing, I know better like how government works.
I understand how government works. I’ve been there and I know what the problems of our people are. One of the challenges we have faced in our federal constituency is that we don’t have anybody at the centre where the decision of distributing the common wealth of this country is being made. None of our representatives has ever been present in those caucus. They just represent us in the green chamber. A lot of decisions are being made, people are pushing things why is it that some quarters are having more development than our own?
It’s because we don’t have the needed representation, we don’t have those people who can go and speak for us. For the first time, I’m urging our people that they should support PDP across the board and we will bring the best of representation and the best of governance to our people’ he submitted- Team@orientactualmags.com
Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08059100286, 09094171980. Thank you
