The Democratic Front (TDF) has welcomed former President Muhammadu Buhari’s declaration of support for the ongoing economic reforms of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
In a statement signed by its Chairman, Mallam Danjuma Muhammad, and Secretary, Chief Wale Adedayo, the group noted that it was a display of statesmanship that was at variance with the petty political position of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
It said: ” For us, former President Buhari’s commendation for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s mid-term performance speaks volumes of his selflessness on matters of national interest and passionate commitment to the success of the Nigerian State.
“What makes his support worthy of emulation is his clarion call for patience among Nigerians and the show of understanding in which he said the Tinubu ‘reforms would achieve success gradually, not overnight.”
“We are, however, not surprised by former President Buhari’s display of outstanding statesmanship in supporting President Tinubu’s economic reforms, given his antecedents as a leader with an uncompromising love for Nigeria.
“He knows better than perhaps any other Nigerian living today that the circumstances which conscripted the decision to remove petroleum subsidy and unify the exchange rates were beyond the capacity of any government to deal with; hence, he limited the provision of subsidy within the expiration of his administration in May 2023.
“We therefore thank the former President for the exhibition of his unshaken faith in the promise of a greater Nigeria. And we urge Nigerians to heed his call for patience and understanding with the ongoing economic reforms, bearing in mind that Tinubu’s policies have successfully reset the nation’s economic fundamentals to usher in an inevitable dawn of limitless economic prosperity.”
TDF also took potshots at former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over his comments on the Tinubu reforms.
The group said: “Conversely, the TDF condemns the hypocrisy, short-sightedness, and self-serving criticism of the ongoing reforms by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar
“His negative comments on the mid-term performance of President Tinubu are simply politics devoid of patriotism, objectivity, and decency.
“We believe that he needed to have consulted his economic experts before going to the public space with his ridiculous hypothesis.
“For us, the former Vice-President’s uniformed postulations on Nigeria’s debt profile under the Tinubu administration exposed his shortsightedness and paucity of socioeconomic knowledge regarding the impact and implications of the current exchange rates on the nation’s external debt commitments.
“We are, however, familiar with Atiku’s political tirades against the administration of President Tinubu. Oftentimes, his criticisms of the government, particularly from 2023 till date, have constantly raised questions about his fitness for the office of Vice-President, which he occupied from 1999 to 2003.
“We easily recall that he was the Chairman of the National Economic Council under the government that negotiated the most opaque and controversial debt relief deal with the Paris Club for Nigeria in the face of multi-dimensional poverty and an extremely deep infrastructural deficit.
“Nigeria is still to recover from the debt relief deal the former Vice-President, and the government he served inflicted on its economy.
“The socioeconomic cost of $12.4 billion in 2006, on road rehabilitation, job creation, immunisation for children, healthcare, education, and general poverty alleviation measures is not quantifiable. Yet Atiku finds the moral spine to criticize a Tinubu administration that recently paid $ 3.4 billion to clear Nigeria’s debt with the IMF without any dubious negotiations.”
The group urged all Nigerians to ignore Atiku Abubakar and his pretences of having the sole answers to all the country’s socioeconomic challenges.
