The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said President Bola Tinubu’s Democracy Day speech is like campaign speech instead of someone who has been on the saddle for three year.
ADC in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi said it expected President Tinubu to use the occasion to demonstrate how democracy under his watch has delivered real benefits to citizens, rather he “chose to speak like a candidate contesting for election.”
The party described the president’s address as long on promises and short on answers.
“What Nigerians heard was not the speech of a government entering its fourth year in office. It was the speech of a candidate seeking another mandate,” ADC stated.
It noted that throughout the address, the president asked Nigerians to believe once again that prosperity is just around the corner, that economic reforms will soon bear fruit, that jobs are coming, that security is improving, wondering why Tinubu was talking about promises after the All Progressives Congress (APC) have been in office for eleven years.
“The APC came to power in 2015 promising to tackle insecurity, revive the economy, create jobs, reduce poverty, strengthen institutions, and improve the quality of life of Nigerians.
“Eleven years later, these same issues continue to dominate the government’s speeches.
“The fact that the president is still making many of the same promises that brought the APC to power is itself an admission that those promises remain unfulfilled,” ADC states.
It reminded President Tinubu that he has been in power for three years while his party, the APC has governed the country for more than a decade.
ADC told the president that Nigerians are not interested in projections but in outcomes.
“They are not looking for assurances. They are looking for evidence,” the party added, noting that the president spoke extensively about economic reforms but failed to adequately address the reality that millions of Nigerians are experiencing one of the most severe cost-of-living crises in recent memory.
According to the party, food prices are high while transportation costs have soared, while small businesses continue to struggle under rising operating expenses.
“Democracy Day should have been an opportunity for the president to account for eleven years of APC stewardship.
“It should have been an opportunity to explain why, under him, the lives of Nigerians have been rendered worthless, why millions of Nigerians are struggling with the cost of living, why unemployment and underemployment remain widespread, and why public confidence in government continues to decline.
“Instead, Nigerians were presented with another catalogue of future intentions, ADC regretted.
The party stated that a government that is still making promises after eleven years in power is effectively admitting that it has not delivered and its promised results not materialised.
“Nigerians deserve more than speeches about what may happen tomorrow. They deserve answers about what has happened over the last eleven years,” ADC stated.
