2023 Presidency: LP, PDP, Others React To Tinubu’s Manifesto

The leadership of the Labour Party (LP), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) have condemned the road map of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu as contained in its presidential campaign manifesto.

Naija News reports that this development follows the unveiling of Tinubu’s manifesto and the inauguration of its Presidential Campaign Council last Friday.

Reacting in a chat with The PUNCH, the spokesman of the LP, Abayomi Arabambi, said it is unfortunate that Tinubu and the APC have the boldness to roll out a campaign asking for the mandate to better the lives of Nigerians after the party has plunged the country into hardship.

He said, “That is why the Labour Party is surprised that those who foisted Buhari on Nigerians for the second time instead of burying their heads in shame still want to elongate Buhari’s in office by continuing his anti-people policies.”

Also, the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said, “The APC and Tinubu had the voters to contend with given the manner they had been governed in the past seven and a half years.

“What is important in this campaign is that records count. In 2023, Nigerians are going to be interested in records. APC is not known to keep promises and that is why they have been referred to as All Promises Cancelled. The party is in liquidation and they are dying in instalments.”

On that premise, Ologunagba maintained that their current performance record would tell at the polls next year.

A political analyst, Jide Ojo, told the newspaper that he thinks the manifesto only sounds good on the surface, but Tinubu and the APC should be questioned on how they think they can deliver on their manifesto if elected in 2023.

“How are we sure that there would be no truckload of excuses if he wins and forms a new government?” he queried.

On his part, a financial analyst, Kalu Aja, described the APC’s manifesto as a tough sell because the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth projection should be queried.

Aja said, “this is the GDP growth projection of Bola Tinubu of the APC, it’s a straight automatic 10 per cent every year from 2023. Mathematically, this is a tough sell; as GDP grows, growth stalls because the denominator grows bigger.”

An associate pProfessor of Economics at Pan-Atlantic University, Dr Olalekan Aworinde, said that the APC’s manifesto undoubtedly can be achieved but not without certain factors to be considered.

“One fundamental thing is that when the Buhari government first came into power, they also promised us all of these. But how many of these were they able to achieve?”

The Dean of the School of Business and Entrepreneurship at the American University of Nigeria, Professor Leo Ukpong, said “to move an economy forward from the depressed economy that Nigeria is facing is like moving a very big ship and it takes a lot of time. Nigeria’s economy is saddled with too much debt; our debt level is way too high.”