Posted by All Progressives Congress presidential candidate Bola Tinubu has instructed APC women to warn Nigerians calling for political change to “shut up their lips.”
Speaking on Monday to APC women, Mr. Tinubu remarked,
“Just tell them we’d want to be courteous but shut up your mouth if they indicate they want a change of administration.”
The candidate for the ruling party added,
“Prosperity has arrived. We can help. There is security. The robbery has ended. “Hopelessness is not a word we use,”
Contrary to Mr. Tinubu’s assertion, Nigeria has seen economic hardship, rising unemployment and poverty, as well as increased insecurity as bandits continue to abduct people for ransom.
Mr. Buhari acknowledged that “despite continuous efforts, unemployment, underemployment, and poverty rates remain high” in his Independence Day speech on October 1.
The National Bureau of Statistics reports that during the Buhari administration, the jobless rate increased five times, from 6.4% in 2010 to 33.3% in the third quarter of 2020.
According to a Brookings Institution report from 2018, Nigeria replaced India as the country with the highest rate of poverty in the world.
Meanwhile, data from the Debt Management Office shows that under President Buhari, the debt profile of the continent’s economic powerhouse reached N42 trillion in June.
Mr. Bubari will leave over N50 trillion in debt to Nigeria when he departs in May of next year since the government plans to borrow over N11 trillion to cover the 2023 budget deficit.
The former governor of Lagos is running for president against a number of other candidates, including Peter Obi of the Labour Party, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, and many others.