The All Progressives Congress (APC) has fired back at Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, over his criticism of President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies, describing his remarks as “hysterical” and a display of political desperation.
In a statement released on Wednesday, APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, dismissed Obi’s claim that he could have implemented better economic reforms, stating that the former Anambra governor was still suffering from an “election failure-induced hangover.”
“To be honest, it was painful to watch Mr. Obi as he laboured in vain to cobble together any sensible critical economic argument in the face of the stark and undeniable record of progress of the administration’s economic reforms,” Morka said.
The ruling party’s statement came in response to Obi’s Tuesday appearance on Arise Television’s Prime Time programme, where he faulted Tinubu’s economic strategies and linked the Labour Party’s internal crisis to the current administration.
Morka, however, maintained that Tinubu’s administration had achieved significant progress, including clearing a $7 billion foreign exchange backlog, addressing over $30 billion in Ways and Means debt, and reducing the debt service ratio from 98% to approximately 64%.
“Even Mr. Obi’s trademark opportunistic sensationalisation of transient difficulties that Nigerians have endured in patriotic support of the President’s bold and transformative economic plan availed no respite, as he floundered on national television, framing himself as a portrait of frustration and political desperation,” he added.
The APC spokesman also criticized Obi’s tenure as governor of Anambra State, describing it as a period of “economic stagnation, infrastructural decay, ecological disaster, and religious polarisation.”
“It is hysterical that Mr. Obi, who was governor of a failed and forgotten administration in Anambra state of only 21 local government areas, would so brazenly boast of his capacity to govern Africa’s largest democracy,” Morka stated.
Read also: Obi criticizes Tinubu’s economic policies, calls for productivity-driven reforms
According to the statement, Tinubu, both as former Lagos State governor and now as Nigeria’s president, has demonstrated a track record of success. Morka highlighted achievements such as increased oil production, a growing foreign reserve, a more stable forex market, and a steadily rebounding economy.
“As he did for Lagos, President Tinubu is now doing for Nigeria with the economy rebounding steadily, posting productivity-enhanced trade surpluses in successive quarters, with a 3.6 percent economic growth forecasted for the current fiscal year; with a fast-expanding foreign reserve; with revamped and operational local refineries; with food inflation on the decline; with a successful harmonisation of multiple exchange rates that now supports increased foreign direct investments and flow of remittances into the economy; and with a reasonably stable forex market,” he said.
Read also: President Tinubu departs for Paris on working visit
The APC further noted that the Nigerian stock exchange market had become one of the most profitable in the world under Tinubu’s leadership, while sectors like agriculture, manufacturing, and creative industries were experiencing expansion.
“Whereas global institutions and experts are applauding the unfolding silent economic revolution ably led by President Tinubu, Obi and his co-opposition drummers of empty partisan barrels continue to deny President Tinubu’s superlative and incomparable near mid-term successes and achievements,” Morka concluded.
The APC maintained that Tinubu remains focused on delivering good governance and improving the economic conditions of all Nigerians, regardless of opposition criticisms.
