2023: Why Afegbua misses the point over Obaseki’s frank take on APC’s fate

While many Nigerians suffer under the weight of unprecedented socio-economic challenges foisted on them in the last seven years, it is quite regrettable that the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its hangers-on, while evidently denying the obvious, are falling over themselves to repudiate the frank take of Governor Godwin Obaseki on the state of the nation.

From the whimsical to the comedic and then to the ridiculous, all would rather the governor did not point to the ill fate that awaits the country if the candidate of the APC makes it to Aso Rock in 2023 by hook or crook.

Among all these characters is a most pathetic traducer, a fly-by-night penpusher and erstwhile self-appointed spokesman to the former military head of state, Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, Kassim Afegbua.

He called the governor’s advice to Nigerians inflammatory, yet he described the times we are in as “such a delicate time of our nationality”.

May I ask why this time is delicate, Mr Afegbua?

Perhaps it is delicate because of the misrule of the APC, the new party where Kassim Afegbua is seeking economic refuge.

It is delicate because the nation now has near-zero capacity to export crude oil having been overrun by crude oil thieves who the present APC government has allowed to run amok due to their incompetence.

Today, the $1 exchanges for nearly N1000 as against around N300 that they met it, all due to the APC’s ineptitude in managing the country’s economy; due to galloping inflation under the APC’s watch, a bag of rice now sells for about N40,000 to N45,000 as against N8,000 in 2015.

Nigerians are now the most terrorised people on earth because the APC-led government supervises a free reign of bandits and terrorists. Abuja, the nation’s capital, is now under siege. It is now a pariah state with the new incursion of terrorist elements. No one can travel safely across communities in the country without the fear of kidnappers, who continue to reign without let.

So, one wonders why he will say the times are delicate, yet questions the rationale for the governor’s warning to Nigerians.

Everyone knows that Afegbua’s only patriotism and loyalty is to mammon. Once there is the prospect of making some money, Afegbua loses his capacity to reason factually and critically.

If there is the slightest chance of getting into the pockets of politicians, particularly the ones that are endangered like his people in the APC, he jumps out and begins to cobble together inconsistent sentences in order to be able to grab from the vulnerable politicians he pretends to defend with his hogwash.

As usual, every attempt to ridicule Obaseki only elevates the governor but leaves Afegbua in a shameless dance. In the lengthy write-up, not once did Afegbua address or debunk the failures of the APC. His only submission is that the Edo state governor is not in a position to criticise the ruling party. If as a governor, with a bird’s eye-view vantage point to assess the state of affairs, the governor does not – in Afegbua’s thinking – qualify to speak about the country’s fate, who then qualifies?

Afegbua was quick to lament the terrible condition of the entry points into the state when even an elementary school pupil knows that the federal government run by Afegbua’s current political party of refuge is solely responsible for federal roads across the country.

If not for the ingenuity of the governor in integrating community participation in security management, which has made Edo one of the safest states to live in the country, the state would have been inundated with criminals and left at the mercy of federal security outfits, who are already over-burdened.

It is not surprising that Afegbua would impugn Governor Obaseki’s ability to attract major businesses and investors to the state because he is unable to appreciate the process of seeking and accessing private capital.

In less than six years, the governor’s strategic approach to governance has created a conducive climate that has attracted over $1.5 billion worth of investment into Edo State, including the $500 million Edo State Oil Palm Programme (ESOPP); the commencement of the injection of over $250 million Saro Africa Integrated Farm with an ethanol processing facility; the establishment of an independent power generating company, Ossiomo Power Company; the 6000bpd Edo Refinery and the 2500bpd Duport Refinery, with the first energy park in Africa, among many others.

For the reckless and wanton wastefulness of the APC and the hardship they have inflicted on Nigerians in the past seven years, nobody with any modicum of morality can come to their defense. Even the most pessimistic of their critics could not have predicted that things would deteriorate so rapidly under their watch in the last seven and half years.

The APC government has failed abysmally in each of the three areas they swore to deal with – security, economy and corruption, and more. In the 62-year history of our nationhood, Nigerians have never lived in as much fear, hunger, pain, and uncertainty as is the case today and cannot wait to get rid of this failed political party from government in 2023.

One, therefore, does not have to look so far to see why Afegbua misses the point over his hurried and ill-conceived response to Obaseki. He is after his pocket, which has been dry for some time now having been out of government since the end of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole’s administration in Edo state in 2016, where he was a commissioner.

He is working hard to ingratiate himself to the Lagos godfather even if for the crumbs that will fall from his table this electioneering season.

But the APC product is and will remain a bad sell. It reeks of arrogance, deceit, and soullessness. Pray tell, who would want to continue with the current state of affairs if such a person genuinely wants what is good for this country?

Afegbua can continue living in a fool’s paradise to satiate his appetite but all those who want the best for Nigeria agree with Obaseki and would ensure the victory of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 presidential election.

Osagie is the special adviser on media projects to the Edo state governor