The opposition Labour Party (LP); Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and others, on Thursday, lampooned the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) over the country’s worsening poverty.
The condemnation by the opposition parties followed a viral video showing long queues of Nigerians seeking foodstuffs at President Bola Tinubu’s Bourdillon residence in Lagos on Christmas Eve.
Senator Ali Ndume, who shared the video on Wednesday via his official X account, said it highlighted the economic struggles facing the nation.
The video showed a mammoth crowd standing or sitting down in long queues at Bourdillon Raod in Ikoyi, Lagos, where President Tinubu’s house is located.
https://x.com/Senatorndume/status/1871885208930422905?t=4PI56DOhVtCpAHBE9Ne7ag&s=19
Ndume, a member of the ruling APC, remarked, “Queues for presidential handouts at Bourdillon on Christmas Eve highlight a sobering reality. Poverty knows no tribe, religion, politics, or region. It is a universal challenge that demands collective action and sustainable solutions”.
The development comes in the wake of tragic stampedes at food distribution events in Oyo, Anambra, and Abuja, where over 50 persons died.
Reacting to the development, the Labour Party’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, said it was sad that the ruling APC was turning more Nigerians into beggars by the day.
Ifoh challenged the APC to come out of its denial and “come to terms with the reality that there is too much poverty, hunger, and oppression in the system”.
“The statistics are out there for everybody to see. In fact, not too many people even understand that it is the season of Christmas.
So, don’t be surprised at the sight of people going to queue at Bourdillon. A time will come when even able-bodied men wearing suits and ties will also carry plates to beg at his residence.
“Imagine having to buy a bag of rice for Christmas at N100,000. What I am saying is that it is now clear to the blind and audible to the deaf that there is hunger in the land. Even the government itself has acknowledged it.
“The international community has also given out statistics to show that the poverty level in Nigeria is second to India, which has over a billion population. Nigeria has just 240 million people. But our poverty level is over 40 per cent, and there is over 70 per cent unemployment in Nigeria. So, it is no longer news”.
Also, LP’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, expressed concern about the deepening poverty in the country.
Obi, speaking through his media aide, Umar Ibrahim, said it was sad that President Bola Tinubu’s harsh economic policies were reducing more Nigerians to beggars.
“This reality is a stark contrast to what one would expect from a country with such potential and resources. The lack of effective governance is evident in the government’s failure to provide basic necessities, infrastructure, and opportunities for its citizens. It’s heartbreaking to see a nation with so much promise struggling to provide for its people”, he said.
Also, the Deputy National Youth Leader of the PDP, Timothy Osadolor, accused President Tinubu’s administration of weaponizing poverty.
He warned that Nigerians might get to the point of desperation where they would turn against the political elite.
“I have always been of the opinion, and I seem to feel it, that this Presidency, as led by President Bola Tinubu, has weaponised poverty and hunger to the point that Nigerians need to beg with a pleading hand to survive. And the man has reduced the dignity of the common man to the pauper state, where they lack basic dignity and self-sufficiency. So, people have to resort to begging.
“President Tinubu’s APC administration has weaponized poverty. They unleashed hunger and hardship on Nigerians with their failed economic policies. The man has weaponised poverty and hunger to the point that you need to come to Bourdillon in Lagos to be able to afford a square meal a day or to get handouts. Across the country, they have created fields of strongmen who hand out arms and food to beggars or Nigerians they have reduced to beggars.
“It is most despicable, it is inhuman, it is insensitive. And it borders on insensitivity for any sane government to encourage armed begging and the dehumanisation of human character and dignity in such a beautiful form as this government and this presidency have done”, Osadolor said.
He warned that a time may come “when people will stop begging for food, they will eat those who are giving it to them, or go after the political elites, especially members of the APC because they caused the hardship, and that is where Nigerians are heading, if we are not careful”.
Speaking in a similar vein, the National Publicity Secretary of the Young People’s Party (YPP), Egbeola Martins, said Nigerians had never had it so bad.
“Things have never been this bad”, Martins said.
He called on the APC-led government to urgently review its economic policies before things got completely out of hand.
He said, “We are still very much insistent on the fact that there is a need to review some of the anti-masses policies that have actually impoverished Nigerians. We are particularly concerned about the subsidy removal policy, especially with the benefit of hindsight, even though it was once a major position of critical stakeholders in the past.
“The implementation has shown that it leaves a lot to be desired. The pain this has caused Nigerians is excruciating. In our opinion, there is nothing wrong with the government reviewing this policy, especially the subsidy removal”.
But the ruling APC dismissed the criticisms, accusing the opposition of trying to incite Nigerians against the President by mischaracterising his longstanding generosity.
Speaking to The PUNCH, the APC National Publicity Director, Bala Ibrahim, said, “President Tinubu has been doing this thing for ages. This is not the first time he is doing it. But this time, because he is the President, it has become extremely conspicuous, and everybody is looking at it differently.
“If it was something he initiated just after he became the President, then it can be a story for discussion. But he has been doing this thing for long. Anybody who knows President Tinubu knows that he is a person that is naturally generous. He likes extending help and support to people in need.
“In fact, I think he inherited it because his mother was also doing the same. Nobody is saying that there is no hardship in the land. But that is not a reason for people to make jest of those who intend to genuinely help, especially people who have been doing so for long”.
Ibrahim, who said President Tinubu’s name is synonymous with generosity, sympathy, and help, accused the opposition of always seeking fault in the President.
“The only difference between what he was doing then and now is that his current palliative is coming with a presidential tag. The Bourdillon we know now is not the same as yesterday. It is a Bourdillon that now houses the President of the country.
“There was a time he was accused of stationing a bullion van in front of his house and giving people money. Why wasn’t that painted in the same light as this? Now that he is doing it as a President, it has become a big story.
“The opposition and critics are just grandstanding. The truth is that if there were to be an announcement and he says he is also extending this hand to the opposition, they will queue up. Their own is to amass wealth to eat alone. But this is a man who feels for the ordinary man”, Ibrahim said.
