•Tinubu and PDP logo
The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the October 1 National broadcast of President Bola Tinubu as uninspiring and disappointing.
Speaking at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja, yesterday, Ologunagba said the President’s Independence Day speech was “uninspiring and disappointing.”
Ologunagba, who spoke on various other issues in the party, noted that the National convention of the party is sacrosanct, reports Daily Trust.
On the Independence Anniversary speech, the PDP spokesman said as usual, the speech was full of misleading claims and statistics that do not reflect the reality Nigerians face.
He said Independence Day should have been an opportunity to give a true account of the past year and highlight genuine progress, “instead, what we got was the same failed narratives and empty rhetoric.”
He said the president claimed that the economy is performing well, but Nigerians are asking: “which corner has the economy really turned? Is it the corner of insecurity, where violence has crippled farming and production? The corner of rising costs, where parents cannot pay school fees? Or the corner where families live in fear of kidnappers and bandits?
“Talk is cheap. What matters is what people feel in their daily lives, and the hardship on the streets tells a very different story.
“The reality is that insecurity remains a serious threat. Just a few days ago, in Abuja, we saw the gruesome murder of a brilliant lawyer and journalist. That is only one of many incidents that show how unsafe people feel. Families live in constant fear, yet the government keeps insisting that things are improving. Independence should mean freedom from fear, but Nigerians do not feel free.
“The government has taken us backwards compared to the past. Under the PDP administration, Nigeria paid off its debts and created real economic opportunities. Today, the APC has plunged the country into unsustainable debt, much of it without any clear link to development projects. Instead, borrowing has fuelled corruption and waste. That is not progress. It is dependence, not independence.
“We are told that trillions have been saved through subsidy removal, but Nigerians cannot see where the money is going. We hear of trillions saved, but also of trillions borrowed. What projects have these funds been tied to? Where is the transparency? Without accountability, these so-called savings mean nothing to ordinary people.”
He said, “the independence speech by the president yesterday, which, to say the least was pathetic, it was boring, it was uninspiring, as true, as always, typical of the APC with their propaganda.
“It was full of lies, false statistics that does not attune to the realities on ground. And some of them we have. We’ll go into that as we have this conversation. In specific terms, of course, you listen to this speech.
“I don’t know how many Nigerians listen to it. From the body language of the president, even as he was reading those speeches, you know that he doesn’t even believe in it.
”When you prepare a speech as big as an independence speech, which you have a connection between the person, which is the president who is actually making the presentation, and the body language should be able to show that.
“Because the president knew, that the broadcast, that he was saying things that are completely not correct, was false. Because it’s at variance, the whole content was at variance with the realities on ground that you and I and every Nigerian face today.”
