The National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress Caretaker Committee, Sen. John James Akpan Uddoedehe on Tuesday hinted that the party object to any planned hike in the pump price of petroleum products.
While allaying the fears Nigerians, amidst fuel queues noticed in some urban cities including the nation’s capital..
The party is not oblivious of the ripple effect such increase on the people against backdrop of an already haemorrhaging economy, stressing that the time was not right for any increase, he added.
He gave this hint the during the launch of a quarterly media parley organized by APC Professionals Forum , geared to systematically showcase laudable achievement of the party despite widespread criticism that the administration was a failure.
Udoedehe who represented the APC National chairman at the event said the party took the position despite the difficulty the government has found itself, and commended President Mohammadu Buhari for responding to the plight of Nigerians.
He said the president has also responded to the complaint of various stakeholders of the party, many of whom he said benefited from recent board appointment exercise announced by the government, and lauded initiative of the Forum.
The government he disclosed is also not relenting extending patronage to all those working and defending president Mohammadu Buhari from lies perpetrated by critics.
According to him; “Another thing we have achieved which is recent is the issue of the pump price of petroleum. The party said no to it even though they have discussed it. It doesn’t matter the circumstances. The party say the time is not ripe.
“That is the position of the party. And they listened. We have tabled the matter”
“One of the thing they are doing for you now, is that we should attach you to all political appointees who are working for the party, who keep defending the President from lies of the detractors and those who are against him. They want to downgrade the government.
“There have not been a government like this in the history of the nation. And i am not playing politics. Show me any government that has done much than President Buhari that has direct link with the masses.
He continued; “If you go to the villages, the camps are full with people taking their 20k from the PWF. everywhere in Nigeria. People are having accessi.
“The president has thrown his door open for everybody. It doesn’t matter which party you belong. In the days of PDP, it was not so. It is either PDP or nothing. The President allows everyone to key into his program. As I am talking with you now, people are collecting loans and Covid-19 palliative. Go to the ministry of labour and you will find people collecting 450k to 1 million. And they are not saying anything. Nigerians are enjoying the program.
“And he is a listening President. We thank you the professionals. In the face of difficulties, frustration and in all, you still stand with the party. You still defend the President”.
He , however, urged the professionals to contest positions available in the country , promising to compensate them in the event of failure.
Meanwhile, National Coordinator of the APC Professional Forum , Akin Akintayo has restated the goal to continue stand as guardians to the core values that led to the formation of the party and to ask necessary questions whenever necessary. He said :
“During electioneering process, political parties goes into social contract with her citizens after election is won and concluded with primary responsibility to deliver social contract promised during the electionering campaigns. In this scenario, the Nigerian people voted for our party as a better alternative to PDP 2015 and 2019 respectively to rescue them from the misgovernance of the past.
“It is on this note, we as a responsible party, government, stakeholders should be asking ourselves; how far so far in the policy formulations and implementation in line with manifesto and agenda we promised Nigerians as a party”.
