………… Says VAT, Fuel Increase, blazing inferno that would consume Nigeria
…….Tinubu has joined Bihari to destroy Nigeria – Lukman, former APC Chieftain
BY MYKE UZENDU
Amid condemnation that has trailed the planned increase in Value Added Tax (VAT) and spike in the price of petroleum products, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has cried out that president Bola Tinubu and his friends and aides are currently living in opulence, while he has heaped series of hardship, terror and pains on Nigerians he swore to protect.
Atiku, who lost to president Tinubu during the last 2023 presidential election, warned that the recent increase in Value Added Tax, VAT, as well as the rising cost of food and petroleum products in the country would become blazing inferno that would consume Nigerians.
Atiku regretted that Tinubu, alongside his advisers, resolved to raise the VAT rate from 7.5% to 10%, even when the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, had announced a soaring PMS price increase from N617 to N897 per litre.
The former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), presidential candidate who stated these in a post on his X handle on Sunday, said the move unveils a new era of regressive and punitive policies.
According to him, the impact is destined to deepen the domestic cost-of-living and exacerbate Nigeria’s already fragile economic growth.
The statement reads: “The increase in VAT is set to become the blazing inferno that will consume the very essence of our people.
“President Bola Tinubu, alongside his coterie of advisers, has resolved to raise the VAT rate from 7.5% to 10%, even as the NNPCL has announced a soaring PMS price increase at the pump. This move unveils a new era of regressive and punitive policies, and its impact is destined to deepen the domestic cost-of-living crisis and exacerbate Nigeria’s already fragile economic growth.
“President Tinubu and his entourage seem to be resorting to their familiar tactic: heaping burdens upon the impoverished while steadfastly ignoring their extravagant excesses! Tinubu’s actions reflect a profound insensitivity to the plight of the less fortunate as he indulges in the opulent renovation of villas and the acquisition of new jets and vehicles for himself and his family.
“One need not be an economist to grasp the ominous implications of President Tinubu’s ill-conceived policies for Nigeria’s future. The relentless rise in taxes and interest rates has proven excessively onerous, debilitating businesses of all sizes and leading to job losses while intensifying the suffering of the poor.
“The manufacturing sector, in particular, has endured relentless strife since Tinubu’s ascendancy, with its contribution to the GDP diminishing by over 20% since December 2023, as reported by the NBS.
“In early August, Tinubu turned his attention to agriculture. As is customary with this administration, a new policy was clandestinely formulated and announced, permitting duty-free importation of agricultural commodities such as wheat, maize, and paddy, despite vehement opposition from farmer groups nationwide.
“This policy poses a grave threat to Nigeria’s food security ambitions, as local farmers, facing unfair competition from low-cost producers in Asia, Europe, and America, are compelled to reduce or entirely abandon their production efforts. It jeopardizes job creation, wealth generation, and the sector’s long-term prosperity, casting a shadow over Nigeria’s sustainability and development.
“President Tinubu and his advisers would be wise to redirect their efforts towards crafting sustainable solutions to the systemic shocks afflicting the economy rather than compounding the crisis with measures destined to ignite further turmoil.”
In another development, former National Vice chairman, North West of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Salihu Moh. Lukman, has accused president Tinubu and his ruling APC of joining former President Muhammadu Buhari to ruin and destroy the country
Lukman, who recently resigned his membership of the ruling party said this in a statement at the weekend in Abuja,
He insisted that that 2027 presents a golden opportunity to replace them, adding that Nigerians must work hard to entrench a system whereby a new political party that would produce the next leaders with power to put elected officials in check.
The former Director General of the APC Progressive Governors’ Forum lamented that the current crop of leading opposition politicians are working at cross-purposes as they are each focused on their presidential ambitions, rather than subsuming their narrow interests under the broader national interest of rescuing the nation from the vice-grip of current political hawks.
He reminded the key political opposition leaders that the strength or confidence of President Tinubu is derived from their inability to open themselves and honestly commence negotiations to build a united front ahead of 2027.
Lukman repeated his earlier call on key opposition political leaders like Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Mr Peter Obi and Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to join hands and push the APC and President Tinunu out of political powers in 2027.
His words; “At this point, it is important to appeal to our key opposition leaders to wake up and try to be compassionate and appreciate the gravity of the dire situation facing citizens.
“The big question is whether, on account of personal ambitions, we want to continue to mismanage our reality and sacrifice every opportunity, which ideally a democratic system offers.
“The opportunity that the democratic system offers is that any government, which fails its citizens should be voted out. No doubt, by any standard, both President Tinubu and APC have failed Nigerians. It is quite disheartening that a party, which came with all the promises of changing Nigeria for the better has ended up ruining the country.
“From the economy to problems of insecurity and corruption, which were the three cardinal challenges APC and former President Muhammadu Buhari promised to tackle in 2015, what we had in 2015 is a child’s play today.
“The hard truth is that both former President Buhari and President Tinubu have turned out to be self-centred and unable to produce the needed leadership to pull the country out of its current challenges.
“Certainly, all of us who were actively in support of these leaders never imagined that they would be such colossal failures.”