It’s dishonest of APC to blame opposition for hardship protests — Lukman

A former vice chairman of the All Progressives Congress in the north-west, Salihu Lukman, said it is dishonest of the ruling party to blame the opposition for the recent protests in Niger and Kano states.

Lukman made this assertion in a statement on Wednesday.

Recall that on Monday, protests over the rising cost of living and food inflation disrupted commercial activities and compounded traffic in both states.

Following the protests, the spokesperson of the APC, Felix Morka, accused opposition political parties of sponsoring the protests.

But Lukman said the ruling party is no longer pretending to be progressive.

He said, “The protests in Minna and Kano confirm the validity of the concerns raised as far back as August 2023.

“Sadly, six months after those concerns were raised, the situation is only getting worse as prices of food items are beyond the reach of most Nigerians.

“If the truth must be told, there is hunger in the land! As a committed member of APC, it is very depressing that this is happening under the leadership of our party.

“Even more depressing was the statement issued by Mr. Felix Morka, our National Publicity Secretary, alleging that opposition parties are behind the protests.

“For Mr. Morka to issue such a very dishonest statement points to only one thing: that the leadership of our party has completely lost it, and at this rate, their political utility value is zero.

“This clearly suggests that even the old pretenses about being progressive have been thrown to the dogs.”

Lukman said “floating” the naira without stopping unnecessary imports has led the country to where it is.

“Floating the naira against other major currencies without taking the needed steps to reduce imports will also produce what we have today, whereby the value of the naira is permanently on a downward slide,” he said.

“Once the government is unable to settle these issues, it is predictable that the cost of living will continue to go up.

“Once prices of necessities are beyond the reach of ordinary Nigerians, citizens will respond in the streets to compel our leaders to do the needful. This is the value of democracy.”

Lukman said maybe protests would compel the Bola Tinubu administration to focus on the real issues.