President Bola Tinubu
By Tony Adibe
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and the 31 APC Governors have been tasked with the need to redouble their efforts to tackle head-on rampant insecurity, irregular power supply, and Debt-to-Service Revenue Ratio (DSR) – increasing challenges reportedly hitting the citizens from all sides.
The former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON) and a Chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, gave the task when he congratulated President Tinubu on his landslide victory in the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary election.
Okechukwu’s congratulatory message was contained in a statement he released to journalists on Sunday in Enugu. The former DG of VON further stated that the poll figures from many states were laudable and indicative of the confidence party members reposed in Tinubu.
He cited figures such as Ogun State — 322,485 votes; Benue State — 374,787 votes; Rivers State — 280,082 votes; Delta State — 407,646 votes; Abia State — 161,005 votes; and Osun State — 100,880 votes.
Okechukwu also alerted that the huge results posed enormous challenges to Mr President, the 31 APC governors, and APC legislators to match the enviable score during the 2027 Presidential Election.
“My fears, for the tall order results are guided by many factors; among which are the history of low voter turnout and hunger in the land. Palpable insecurity, gross unemployment, epileptic power supply, and the unfavourable Debt-to-Service-Revenue-ratio (DSR),” according to Okechukwu.
He urged Tinubu and APC governors to double down urgently on addressing these citizen-based challenges in line with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, adding: “We have less than seven months to the D-Day General Elections”.
He, however, lauded the leadership of the APC for adhering to the rule of law by experimenting. Athens invented direct primaries for the first time in our country, across the 8,809 electoral wards nationwide.
According to him, the exercise demonstrated “APC’s observance of internal democracy; unlike our sister opposition party, the ADC, which is presently engulfed in Zoning turmoil over the election of its presidential flag-bearer.”
The APC chieftain also warned that President Tinubu’s landslide victory posed enormous challenges to the APC and its members.
“May I congratulate Mr. President for his landslide victory and join him in positing that the victory poses enormous challenges to our great party, because to whom much is given, much is expected. In fact, I am in league with Mr. President in his profound statement: ‘I’m just excited; they challenge me to do more’.”
