From Fred Itua, Abuja
A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader in Akwa Ibom State and former Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Nduese Essien, has faulted claims by the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu that he would bring the Naira at par with the Dollar if voted in as the next president of Nigeria next year.
He mocked the APC presidential candidate for making false claims, when he cannot help the current APC leadership, led by President Buhari, to turn around the failing economy for Nigerians, thereby increasing the misery of Nigerians at home and abroad.
Essien, a two-term member of the National Assembly, stated that such a campaign talk was only ‘meant for the marines’, as the APC presidential candidate has no magic wand to turn the Naira around to equate in value with the Dollar.
He said: “Tinubu made this kind of statement in 2015, when he was campaigning for Muhammadu Buhari, seven years along the line, he couldn’t show the president how to appreciate the Naira, why then should anybody with knowledge of how the global economy works, believe him.
“That’s how it started in 2014, leading to the opposition against President Goodluck Jonathan on how the Naira will be at par with the USA Dollar if Buhari is voted to power.”
According to him, Tinubu’s claim is unrealistic, given the fact that he may likely follow the economic blueprint of President Muhammadu Buhari, if voted into the exalted office.
The PDP chieftain, who also chaired the South South caucus of the National Assembly from 1999 to 2003, blasted Buhari’s administration for what he described as the abysmal depreciation of the Naira from 150 to 610 per Dollar.
He quipped: “Why has Tinubu failed to assist President Buhari in arresting the steady fall of the Naira against other international currencies but waiting until he becomes President in 2023 before he miraculously intervened.
“International currencies are not manipulated the way Bola Tinubu surreptitiously took the Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited Headquarters to Lagos away from its area of operations to the detriment of the Oil Producing Areas and has continued to sustain its maintenance there despite all the protestations from the rest of the country and in keeping with international best practice.
“Tinubu cannot be trusted because as the leader of the All Progressive Congress, the party has failed the country in all its campaign promises, he has nothing new to offer the nation.”
Essien however called on Nigerians of voting age to make use of the extension given by the Independent National Electoral Commission on registration to get their Permanent Voter Card ,PVC, so as to vote in their preferred candidates in the forthcoming polls.