The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has on Sunday, December 18, called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to thank his stars, because angry and hungry Nigerians are yet to storm the streets, in protest of the widespread hardship in the land.
The APC made this call, through a Human Rights Activist and Politician, Representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the Senate, and he is also the Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign and Local Debts, Shehu Sani.
Meanwhile, the development is coming at a time when Nigeria has been hit with the worst economic recession since the last 20 years, despite the promise of the change mantra parroted by the APC, prior to the 2015 general elections.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Tribune Newspaper, on Buhari’s Presidency, Sen. Sanni said: “People are actually suffering so much. There is so much poverty, so much hunger. There is so much disappointment in the hearts and minds of our people.
“But I think we need to understand that as a government, we can’t hold this for so long. This government has enjoyed the longest degree of patience from the people in the history of Nigeria: in the sense that, Nigerians are still not in the streets protesting, not going on strike. There is no disobedience campaign against the President, or the Federal Government.
”As you can see, even critics of this government, are carefully measuring their words when it comes to criticising the government. But we have up to May 29 next year, which is just a few months ahead, for Nigerians to pass a final verdict, of whether we have been able to deliver our campaign promises,” Sani said.
While responding to questions on why the civil society groups, have not been mounting pressure on the current government to do the needful, he said: “I think with the death of Chief Gani Fawehinmi, the death of Dr. Beko Ransome Kuti, the death of Chima Ubani, there has been progressive decline in the protest of the civil society, to engage the government in terms of pressurising it, to achieve the aims of nationhood.
”But the role was different under the military. Our role was combative, but with the return to democracy, most of the civil society activists have dissolved into the system. They are now engaging the Ministries of Transport, Health, Works, among others, and through this kind of engagement, they have been subsumed into the system, and would find it very difficult to raise their voice against injustice, against anti-democratic activities, because they have been taken as part of the system. That is the major problem, and a very serious one,” Sen. Sani lamented.
Concluding, he said: “However, we still need a vibrant proactive civil society, that would put the government in check.”
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