The Enugu State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has backed Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka’s recent stand on the suffering of the masses.
In a message, the fiery cleric had criticised former President Goodluck Jonathan for running down the nation’s economy and inflicting suffering on Nigerians.
He said: “It is not easy everywhere. Hunger is everywhere. Hunger is in the atmosphere. There is a sword moving about in the country. People are dying like flies. The sword of hunger is eating the land.
“The past Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government was a grasshopper and a locust to Nigeria. The past government was a disaster to the land of Nigeria. The past government was cancer to this country. There is no need to cover its incalculable and iniquitous mess.”
In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mrs. Kate Ofor, the Enugu State APC reassured Nigerians that President Muhammadu Buhari would restore the country to the path of progress.
The statement reads: “Let us once more salute Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka, the crusader of the masses, liberation ideologue and Head of Adoration Ministry, Catholic Church of Enugu State, for speaking truth to power, as evidenced by his unrelenting attack on those in power and his memorable prediction of President Buhari’s victory on January 1, 2015.
“We wish to reassure Fr. Mbaka that President Buhari will not, in the fullness of time, disappoint Nigerians or fail to fix our dilapidated social and physical infrastructure. Never! Buhari is devotedly committed to pull Nigerians out of poverty, hunger and squalor.
“For us, yesterday …is the architecture of today. Nobody can wish yesterday away. Therefore, Fr Mbaka is correct in stating that the past regimes sowed the whirlwind we are regrettably reaping today.
If the $16 billion expended on power supply was prudently expended; if the three Greenfield refineries awarded on May 13, 2010 were not dead and fund decayed in the sand; if the $8.3 billion spent on the old gauge Lagos-Kano railway were for standard gauge; if the Enugu-Onitsha, Enugu-Port Harcourt, Second Niger Bridge the and other federal roads’ funds budgeted were not eaten by locust; if the funds meant for Enugu Coal were nor embezzled and if the billions budgeted for our schools and hospitals did not grow wings, hunger could not have been in the land; unemployment could have been drastically reduced and our prosperity could have been guaranteed.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State and, by extension Nigeria, feel the pains and pangs of hunger, feel the gruesome hardship and abject poverty ravaging the land. We are not immune to hunger nor the gross unemployment dislocating our youths.
“To be candid, in our closed-door meeting with Mr President, he disclosed that he was aware, concerned and worried about the sordid economic situation. This is why he is waging strident war against corruption. His solution is to effectively and prudently implement the 2016 and subsequent budgets to fix the decayed infrastructure.
“On the issue of being slow, Mr President pointed out that the 1999 Constitution, the Procurement Act and other extant laws make it impossible for any official to expend funds not appropriated by the National Assembly. Otherwise, he could have dipped his hand into the trillions budgeted and hit the ground running.
“It is pertinent to inform as well that Mr President is embarking on economic diplomacy, travelling the length and breadth of the globe, utilising his huge goodwill to attract foreign investors to fulfil the solemn pledge he made to the good people of Nigeria.
“It is common knowledge that destruction is very easy and reconstruction very difficult. This is the ordeal Mr President is facing in fixing Nigeria.
“Accordingly, we wish to once more reassure Fr Mbaka, and indeed all Nigerians, that in the fullness of time nobody will regret ever voting for President Buhari. All he needs are prayers patience and support.”
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