Afenifere to Nigerians: Hold Buhari’s govt liable for Nigeria’s economic hardship

The Pan-Yoruba Socio-political organisation, Afenifere, on Friday, asked Nigerians to hold former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration liable for the current hardship in the country.

Protests over the rising prices of food items and other costs of living as well as insecurity have spread across the country in the last few days.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) earlier on Friday threatened to take the citizens out on a two-day nationwide protest over the economic hardship and insecurity at the end of the month.

In a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary Jare Ajayi and his Organising counterpart, Kole Omololu, the group argued that the Buhari administration caused the country’s political and economic crises and not the current administration.

Afenifere stressed that President Bola Tinubu stopped the subsidy regime in his May 29, 2023, inaugural speech because the last administration did not make provision for oil subsidies in the budget.

The statement read: “The economic downturn was caused by Buhari’s administration which was built on a platform of hope and a defective federalism saying promises made were not fulfilled.

“Under Buhari’s watch, terrorists and banditry were operating effortlessly. Law and order broke down.

READ ALSO: NLC plans two-day protest over insecurity, food inflation

“Many innocent citizens including the daughter of our leader were killed and or kidnapped.

“President Buhari could not rein in his critical officials like the then Governor of CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who was printing money rather than facing the reality of taking the difficult decisions, which were postponed till the evil day.

“It was, therefore, obvious that we were simply postponing the evil day. The CBN Governor denied leaks flying around that the books were being doctored. He reassured the federation that all was well.

“He even wanted to contest the presidential election! There were no penalties for his infractions by President Buhari.

“These inactions and false lives continued till May 29, 2023, when the new helmsman, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, was sworn in as President.

“President Tinubu wasted no time amending his inauguration address and declared the subsidy regime over! This was obvious as there was no appropriation for subsidy from June 2023.

“A man who is not shy about making difficult decisions, he probably underestimated the capability and capacity of the beneficiaries of the old order to make things ungovernable for his administration.

“Those sleeping and snoring during the eight years of Buhari suddenly woke up forgetting that these remedial actions should have been taken many years back.

“The major sin of President Tinubu was in his contesting and winning the presidential election and making these decisions, which will hurt in the short term but bring us back to reality in the long run.

“He quickly followed up with the deregulation of the forex regime, which resulted in the free fall of the Naira.”

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