NIGERIANS FACE A “SHOW YOUR METTLE” ELECTION

By Akin Ojumu

When PDP came to power in 1999, petrol sold for N20 per liter and the Naira exchanged at a rate of N90 to $1. By the time they handed over power, the cost of petrol was N87 per liter and the exchange rate was N300 to $1.

Under PDP, the price of petrol increased by a whopping 335 percent, while the Naira depreciated by 233 percent.

In 2015, the APC regime took over from the PDP. Back then, Nigerians were buying petrol for N87 per liter and the exchange rate was N300 to $1. After eight years of APC misrule and mismanagement, the price at the pump is now N200 per liter of petrol. The Naira currently exchanges at the rate of N800 to $1.

The APC regime increased petrol price by 130 percent, and the party of the demented incompetents crashed the Naira by 167 percent.

For sixteen years, the PDP cannibalized Nigeria and left the country as a hollowed-out carnage of pain, misery, and suffering.

The APC has held presidential powers for half as long as the PDP. In that brief period, they succeeded in taking the carnage left behind by PDP and turned it into a ruinous wreckage. Under the APC, Nigerian masses are constantly under siege and can’t seem to get a reprieve from anywhere. The welfare of Nigerians is under threat and their wellbeing perpetually under attack.

Prices of goods and services have not only shot through the roof, but they’ve also skyrocketed beyond the firmament. The country is experiencing one of the most severe and protracted fuel scarcity ever. The queues at the petrol stations are, in some places, so long that Nigerians spend as long as 40 days and 40 nights waiting in line and praying that it’ll soon get to their turn.

Through an ill-advised monetary policy and as a result of an ill-conceived currency redesign initiative, the APC regime has now plunged the Nigerian masses into an even deeper harrowing existence. 

With total disregard for the rights of the citizenry, the APC rulers have forcefully confiscated the little money Nigerians have in the banks, making it impossible for them to even purchase the outrageously exorbitant foods and the basic necessities of life.

Despite all the above, without shame and showing no remorse for their almost 25 years of plundering Nigeria, the APC and PDP have come again demanding the presidency in order to continue their pillaging of Nigeria.

Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the man who single-handedly bankrolled the APC and was instrumental in the installation of an old and unintelligent military general as president, is laying claim to the presidency of Nigeria as though it’s his father’s throne and his birthright. This man, who turned Lagos State into his personal piggy bank, wants to rule Nigeria. Tinubu, the parasite of Bourdillon, is hoping to extend his parasitic territory to the entire land mass of Nigeria. The Chicago drug baron wants Nigeria to become his drug cartel.

Same with Abubakar “Special Purpose Vehicle” Atiku. This is a man who was vice president for 8 years under the first PDP regime where the looting of the nation’s treasures was taken to an art form. As the first and only Nigeria’s Vice President to be indicted for corruption by the United States Congress, Atiku was so corrupt that even the man under whom he served as vice president made sure he never succeeded him as president. It’s this same man who wants to become president.

On Saturday 25th of February, Nigerians will once again have the opportunity to prove to themselves who they really are and what they are made of. They can send a clear message to the ruining elite that they’ve had enough of being taken for fools. On the other hand, Nigerians can choose to rollover as fools and allow themselves to be trampled upon once again.

It’s up to Nigerians to either resist or acquiesce. We shall soon see what they choose to do.