Former Vice President and the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar has criticised the launch of the campaign initiative of President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) entitled “next level”, stressing that it is full of promises and vague on policy.
Atiku in a statement issued on Sunday by his campaign organisation said “our attention has been drawn to the launch of the so-called ‘next level’ campaign initiated today by the Buhari campaign and we congratulate them even as we make bold to ask one or two questions as part of our efforts to run an issue-based campaign.
“Reading through the presentation, we note that it is very vague on policy and very big on promises. Promises are cheap. Anyone can make promises and indeed, President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress did make quite a number of promises which they either denied or did not fulfil, such as the promise to create 3 million jobs per annum and to equalise the value of the Naira with the dollar.
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“However, policies are the plans and roadmaps that will be used to achieve those promises. Promises made without policies are like a house without a foundation, they will fall. And we have seen proof of that in Nigeria in the last three years,” Atiku said.
The former Vice President said further that without a concrete policy, these ‘next level’ promises are nothing more than next level propaganda even as he counseled the Buhari campaign that the time for propaganda has gone and Nigerians are now interested in proper agenda.
“In fact, the feedback we have received from Nigerians is one of alarm. Over the last three and a half years of the Buhari administration, Nigeria was officially named as the world headquarters for extreme poverty. Nigerians are asking if this administration is planning ‘next level’ poverty for them?
“Under this government, 11 million Nigerians have lost their jobs and the administration is so panicky that it has refused to fund the National Bureau of Statistics to release the latest unemployment numbers. Nigerians are asking if this administration is planning ‘next level’ unemployment for them?
“Under Buhari, the value of the Naira has been so devalued that Bloomberg rated the Naira as the worst performing currency on earth. The nation wants to know if this government plans ‘next level’ devaluation of the Naira for them?” Atiku asked.
The statement said that in 2018, Transparency International announced that Nigeria made her worst ever retrogression in the Corruption Perception Index moving 12 steps backwards from 136 under the Peoples Democratic Party to 144 under Buhari. Atiku again said that Nigerians are asking if this administration is planning ‘next level’ corruption for them?
“The so-called ‘next level’ launch was an anti-climax in that it just exposed the fact that all that the Buhari government is promising Nigerians is more of the same. If the state of the average Nigerian has not improved in the last three and a half years, more of the same is obviously not what they need.
“We therefore urge Nigerians not to lose hope, but to await the launch of the policies, plans and program of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to Get Nigeria Working Again. Remember those who fail to plan, plan to fail. Atiku has a plan. Atiku means jobs and at 12 noon on Monday, November 19, 2018, you will hear from the man with the plan,” the statement said.
Innocent Odoh, Abuja
