Oyegun: Nigeria ‘worse off today than in 1999’

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the Peoples Democratic Party-led government of incompetence, impunity and corruption that have led the country to become “worse off today than it was in 1999”.

Delivering his welcome address at the special convention of the party in Abuja on Wednesday, John Oyegun, national chairman of APC, spoke on the “unprecedented impunity” in President Goodluck Jonathan’s government, saying it had fuelled unparallelled lawlessness in the country.

Oyegun also accused the PDP of employing divisive tactics to polarise Nigerians, adding that it had nothing to show Nigerians who are impatient and will therefore vote it out of power in 2015, after 15 years.

“In all spheres of life, Nigeria is worse off today than it was in 1999, when the PDP first assumed office. In the area of security and welfare of the citizenry, the main reason for the existence of any government, the scorecard of the PDP-controlled federal government is zero. More Nigerians have died needlessly between 1999 and now than at any other time in the country’s history, minus during the unfortunate civil war of 1967 to 1970,” he said.

“By President Jonathan’s own admission, over 12,000 people have been killed by Boko Haram alone. Yet the government has no clue as to how to end the killings, not minding that the sponsors of terrorists called Boko Haram are known to the president and he is known to them.”

According to Oyegun, in the area of corruption, Nigeria has never had it so bad.

“Organised stealing of our crude oil has become a thriving business, and corruption has never been so institutionalized. Where do we start?” he queried.

“There is also impunity, unprecedented impunity, which has in turn fuelled unparallelled lawlessness. Now, they simply deploy security personnel to lock up the courts just to prevent justice from being served. They organise to beat up judges just to have their way. Litigants and lawyers are fair game in their misplaced strategy to pervert the course of justice. To them, the doctrine of the separation of powers is a mere fancy.

“They don’t give a damn. In their perverted reasoning, might is right. Their violation of this doctrine flies in the face of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This undemocratic encroachment and erosion portend great danger for our nation and constitute a threat to our democracy. But they don’t really give a damn.”

Reassuring Nigerians of the party’s commitment to developing the country, Oyegun added:

“Now, our party, the APC, truly cares; we care about our citizens. We care about our youths. We care about our elderly. We are ready to restore hope to our traumatised people. We are programmed to return Nigeria to the path of growth and development, create jobs, modernise infrastructure and make life more abundant for our people.

“For those who say there is no difference between us the other party, simply tell them that wherever APC is in government, services run efficiently and lives are saved.”