Salihu Lukman, a former national vice chairman (North-west) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has said the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Tinubu is exchanging for renewed anger in the country.
According to him, media reports on Monday, February 5, 2024 presented protests by citizens in the streets of Minna, Niger State and Kano, Kano State against the increasingly rising cost of living in the country.
Lukman, in a statement in Abuja, said with this happening in less than a year of the President Tinubu’s administration, calls for urgent response by the government.
He said such a response must as a matter of necessity to address existing reality whereby prices of goods and services, especially food items are astronomically going up, almost on hourly basis.
“There are gory tales of Nigerians going to the same markets within short intervals of less than 24 hours encountering higher prices for the same quantity of products. These are predictable realities triggered by conscious decisions taken by the government of President Asiwaju Tinubu.
“Recall that as far back as August 2023, about four months into the tenure of the current government, I had cause to draw attention to some disturbing signals in an open letter to President Asiwaju Tinubu.
“The protests in Minna and Kano confirm the validity of the concerns raised as far back as August 2023. Sadly, six months after those concerns were raised, the situation is only getting worse as prices of food items are beyond reach of most Nigerians. If the truth must be told, there is hunger in the land! As a committed member of APC, it is very depressing that this is happening under the leadership of our party.
“As it is now, the renewed hope agenda of our party has been floated. Like the Naira exchange rate, Renewed Hope is being exchanged for Renewed Anger. The value is becoming more and more provocative to citizens.
At this rate, all appeals for patience may be simple waste of time given the challenge of survival,” the APC chieftain said.
The former director general of Progressive Governors Forum appealed to APC leaders, especially President Tinubu not to submit to the temptation of criminalising the legitimate grievances of Nigerians.
“Under no circumstances must our leaders imagine that because they are today’s rulers, unacceptably harsh living conditions caused by clear policy choices of our government should be tolerated.
“These were the same issues we rose against under the military and during the tenure of PDP between 1999 and 2015. Perhaps, if the truth must be told, if it were during the tenure of former President Muhammadu Buhari, many would rationalise it given his military background,” he added.
MEANWHILE, Federal High Court sitting at Ikoyi in Lagos yesterday has ordered the Federal Government to fix the prices of goods and petroleum products within seven days.
Justice Lewis-Allagoa ordered the Federal Government to fix the prices of milk, flour, salt, sugar, bicycles and their spare parts, matches, motorcycles and their spare parts, motor vehicles and their spare parts as well as petroleum products, including diesel, petrol motor spirit (PMS), and kerosene.
Rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) had approached the court, demanding answers to the followings: “Whether by virtue of Section 4 of the Price Control Act, the first defendant (Federal Government) is carrying out its duty to impose a price on any goods that are of the kind specified in the First Schedule to the Price Control Act.
“A declaration that by virtue of Section 4 of the Price Control Act Cap, the defendants are under a legal obligation to fix the prices of bicycles and spare parts, flour, matches, milk, motorcycles and spare parts, motor vehicles and spare parts, salt, sugar and petroleum products including diesel, petrol motor spirit and kerosene.
