- The former vice-chairman of the ruling party in the northwest, Salihu Lukman attributed the economic inflation and hardship to Tinubu’s policies
- Salihu Lukman said the nationwide #Endbadgovernance protest is enough to impeach the President
- He mentioned that the grievances expressed could have potentially warranted the dismissal of some governors as well
The former vice-chairman of the ruling party in the North West geopolitical zone, Salihu Lukman, has said the just-concluded nationwide #Endbadgovernance protests are a valid basis for impeaching President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
This was disclosed in a statement he made on Sunday, August 11. The statement read, “In any event, it is legitimate for the opposition to start working for the defeat of a ruling party once they are unable to justify the confidence of the electorates.”
Grievances could have potentially warranted some governor's dismissal
He also mentioned that the grievances expressed during the protest could have potentially warranted the legal dismissal of some state governors.
“In fact, ideally, if democratic structures of the country were functionally working such as political parties and the National Assembly, with what is going on in the country, President Tinubu and many state governors are candidates for immediate impeachment,” Salihu Lukman stated.
The former vice-chairman attributed Nigeria’s current situation to the removal of subsidies on petroleum products and the floating of the Naira's exchange rate against other global currencies.
He said, “For an import-dependent economy, it is predictable that the two policies will produce inflationary pressure.
“Unfortunately, so far, the government of President Bola Tinubu is unable to produce any clear definitive policy response to the situation. All that citizens hear government to be saying is calling on citizens to be patient without outlining how long it will take for the harsh reality to abate.
“Meanwhile, daily, Nigerians confront challenges of hunger and threats to daily survival. Many citizens die prematurely on account of hunger and preventable diseases. While acknowledging government explanations about how bad the economy has been mismanaged by previous administrations, it must be stressed that being an elected government, Nigerian political leaders should be more responsive. The minimum should be to acknowledge the reality facing citizens and demonstrate some measure of compassion and seek to ameliorate the harsh conditions facing citizens by relaxing some of these policies.”
‘Political parties are part of Nigeria’s problems’
He remarked that when the government resorts to using blackmail tactics and claims that the opposition was behind the protests, such arguments should be dismissed outright.
He also noted that the stability of Nigerian democracy is endangered as long as political leaders and parties in Nigeria do not form solid relationships with key and vibrant constituencies, such as the #EndBadGovernance protest organisers.
He further said, “The comatose reality, which has reduced the National Assembly to a rubber stamp with political parties that are nothing more than leprous fingers, is responsible for the current high levels of frustration and desperation of Nigerians to register their anger through protests.
“Combined with a reality whereby INEC seems to be unwilling to discharge its statutory responsibility of registering new parties that could produce veritable options for legitimate leadership contests in the country, all hopes of democratic change of leadership in the country are fading away.”
#EndBadGovernance: Nigeria’s nationwide protests came with significant economic losses
Meanwhile, TheRadar reported that the 10-day nationwide protests against hunger and bad governance in Nigeria had brought significant losses to the economy.
One of the blowback was that investors in the Nigerian capital market lost about N235 billion on the first day of the protest alone.