Nigerian political juggernauts are at it again as various political parties are already scheming and strategizing for a stake and place in the forth coming 2023 national elections.
Political leaders have oftentimes in the past taken Nigerians for granted during political campaigns and have feed citizens with cooked up stories and series of lies and utopia promises that are never fulfilled or embarked upon.
Another strategy being used by these politicians is the pseudo and unrealistic gift items and palliatives given to poor and vulnerable Nigerians especially those residing in rural areas who are just comfortable with the immediate relief such gift items shared during political campaigns would bring while being oblivious of the long term consequences of their actions.
The Minister of works and housing Babatunde Fashola, speaking on behalf of the present administration led by president Muhammadu Buhari, disclosed that the All Progressive Congress (APC) will have the advantage and privilege of retaining power in 2023 if they are generally true to their words and fulfil their promises to Nigerians.
Speaking in an interview session with journalist and news reporters on Monday at the federal capital territory (FCT) Abuja, the Minister of works and housing claimed that Nigerian citizens would vote any party that keeps to its promises even if it has not performed a 100 percent but made some progress with its commitment.
Fashola also went ahead to state that the opposition parties need to think much strategically and plan better if they want to defeat APC at the next general election. In his words the Minister said,
“Some governors have joined us, from where we think we could not get voters before. To retain power in 2023, certainly if we keep our promises, people will vote for us. It is that simple, that is politics,”
The former Lagos governor went further to say that “If you do what you say you will do, even if you don’t do hundred percent and they see that you are making progress, they will even want you to finish what you started.
“Our opposition parties ought to think better than us in order to defeat us. Right now they are not doing that and I won’t teach them how to do it.”
Fashola insisted on the fact that it is very important and vital that the APC national caretaker committee should be allowed to do its job without external interferences or monitoring.
“It was a crisis that led us to have a caretaker committee, we must respect the caretaker committee, let it do its job. Those of us who didn’t contest party positions, let’s focus on our jobs too and stop getting in each other’s way,” he said.
“Let’s be ready to support one another, every support that the caretaker committee requires, we will provide if it is within our means to do so. At the end of the day, we are governed by rules.”
With the above comments the Minister is not only sending warning signals to the All Progressive Congress (APC) the party which he belongs but also intimating and informing them as well of the needful.
Nigerians will no longer turn a blind eye to the promises that are never fulfilled. They can no longer be made to experience the same hardships they have been subjected to as things generally and the standards of living have become so unbearable. There’s now a genuine and conscious awareness that things will no longer remain the same. Citizens are beginning to ask questions and challenge the status quo, the political leaders, their policies, and the method of governance and to demand for their rights and proper accountability of the national resources as well.
Gift Joseph Okpakorese
Staff Writer
