Tinubu Brought Nigeria Out Of The Woods, Buhari, A Stopgap President – Morka

The National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Felix Morka, has declared that Nigeria has ‘come out of the woods’ at the macroeconomic level under President Bola Tinubu.

Morka also claimed that Tinubu has performed better in his first term than every democratically elected president Nigeria has had before him.

The APC spokesman made the remarks during an interview on Channels Television while defending the economic policies and performance of the Tinubu administration, Naija News reports.

“We have come out of the woods at the macroeconomic level,” Morka said.

He argued that the figures and other economic indicators were enough to support the administration’s claim of progress, insisting that Tinubu inherited an economy in a bad state.

“The indicators are res ipsa loquitur as we say in law; they speak for themselves. This president inherited an economy that was completely in a mess,” he said.

Morka said the president had surpassed the performance of previous democratically elected leaders when their respective terms in office were considered.

He listed former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari among those whose performances, according to him, Tinubu had exceeded.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has outperformed any president in his first term. He has outperformed any democratically elected president in this country in their terms,” Morka said.

The APC spokesman said the economic situation inherited by the Tinubu administration was largely the result of what he described as poor governance under previous administrations, particularly the 16 years the Peoples Democratic Party spent in power at the federal level.

Morka, however, offered a different assessment of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, which came into power in 2015 after the PDP’s long spell in office.

He described Buhari as a ‘stopgap president’, arguing that his administration prevented the country from sliding further into crisis before Tinubu took over.

“Buhari was a stopgap president that really came to keep the country from tipping over the precipice, from 16 years of horrific maladministration of the PDP government,” Morka said.

“President Buhari served his term, did his job to hold the country still for President Tinubu to enter.”

Morka also defended some of the major economic decisions taken by the Tinubu administration since it assumed office in May 2023.

The reforms include the removal of the petrol subsidy and changes to the foreign exchange system, policies that have generated intense debate over their effect on Nigerians.

According to Morka, however, the reforms have begun to reposition the economy after the difficulties inherited by the current administration.

He said the impact was gradually becoming visible at the macroeconomic level and claimed that even some Nigerians who initially criticized the government’s policies were beginning to acknowledge the changes.