Peter Obi now prophet of doom – APC

…Says economy bouncing back under Tinubu

The ruling All Progressive Congress party (APC) has described Peter Obi, former Labour Party (LP) Presidential candidate as ” Nigeria’s prophet of doom”.

The party was reacting to Peter Obi’s press briefing on Thursday in Abuja, where he decried the sufferings Nigerians were subjected to under the administration of President Bola Tinubu and the APC led federal government.

Peter Obi who contested the 2023 presidential election with President Tinubu, had also alleged that members of the opposition were being subjected to harsh treatments by the APC led government.

Obi stated that Tinubu spent about 30% of his 18 months in office traveling in foreign countries, with little or no impact on Nigeria’s economy.

The Labour Party leader noted that despite claims by the APC led government that it had reduced insecurity, many Nigeria communities were in secured, while poverty continues to ravage the land.

He cited cases of recent children who died in Ibadan, Abuja and Anambra States while chasing Christmas food and concluded that the N70,000 Minimum Wage was grossly inadequate to solve the current hunger crises in Nigeria.

But the APC, while reacting to the statement, described Obi’s New Year message, as ” misleading and aimed at scoring cheap political points.

The statement signed by Felix Morka, the APC National Publicity Secretary, also declared that under the current administration, Nigeria reduced debt service from 94% to about 60%, between 2023 and 2024.

The party said Obi’s press briefing “in which he claimed that the country’s political, economic and security situation is worsening daily, ” is misleading and appears intended to score cheap political points.

“While Nigerians celebrated the new year with hope for a more glorious 2025, Peter Obi, former Governor of Anambra State and presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general elections, was seemingly stuck in a replay of his jangling, gloom-ridden wishlist for our country.

“This claim, at a time when all indicators show that our country is rebounding in significant measure across all sectors, casts Obi, squarely, as Nigeria’s leading doomsayer.”-

The party notes that contrary to Obi’s claims, the reality is that ,” in 18 months, the economy under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, has showed steady record of progress – massive balance of trade surpluses; trillions in stock market wealth creation; a surge in foreign direct investments as a result of increased confidence in the economy; enhanced foreign reserve; significant decline in debt servicing ratio from 90 percent to about 64 percent”.

The party also noted that farmers now earn higher incomes, with massive increase in federal allocation to states and local governments.

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The party also noted the “deliberate and patriotic efforts to plug leakeages and shore up the nation’s revenue base; restart of moribund Port-Harcourt and Warri refineries; remarkable improvement in oil production and export of petroleum products”.

Other achievements listed by the party include ” the decimation of terrorist leaders and improvement in the security situation, and numerous other measures to meet the $1trillion economy target of this administration”.

The party also noted that apart from these and other initial beneficial outcomes of ongoing unprecedented reforms, the administration is doubling its effort to ensuring that the reforms deliver their fullest benefits for the sustainable growth and transformation of our country.

“In his New Year message, President Bola Tinubu acknowledged that the “cost of food and essential drugs remained a significant concern for many Nigerian households. To reverse this trend, Mr. President assured that his administration was committed to lowering food prices by boosting food production and promoting local production of drugs.

“Mindful of the threat that the current inflation rate poses to our economy, President Tinubu had also vowed to crash it from 34 percent to 15 per cent in course of this fiscal year.

The party also applauded the Tinubu administration’s war on corruption, evidenced by ongoing investigations and trial of well-heeled Nigerians, Obi’s pontification on the urgent need to tame corruption is a clear case of carrying coal to Newcastle.

“It is a thing of irony that Peter Obi, who now arrogates to himself to be omniscient and philosopher’s stone, when it comes to our nation’s challenges, left no record of significant achievement, let alone transformation of any kind, in his eight-year tenure as Governor of Anambra State.

“Like his co-travellers in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Obi’s obsessive pessimism and endless but futile effort to incite public outrage against the administration is borne out of their realization that President Tinubu is unwittingly cementing their ultimate political irrelevance by his visionary and full-throttle reform and transformation of the fundamental pillars of our national life

” Under the banner of the Renewed Hope Agenda, President Tinubu is dutifully turning our nation’s fortunes around. He deserves the support and patience of Nigerians in order to consolidate on the deep economic foundation he has laid, and deliver a vibrant, prosperous new Nigeria for the good of all. We urge Nigerians to remain confident of better days ahead” the APC said.