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By Omoniyi Salaudeen
Senator Anthony Adeniyi, who represented Ekiti State in the 7th National Assembly, is a prominent chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). In this interview, he dismissed the threat by the new alliance forces to unseat President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as empty and inconsequential.
How would you react to the insinuation that APC is responsible for the crisis in the opposition parties?
It’s all fallacy; nobody is after them. Nigerians should look forward to a better future with what President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is doing.
There is a general concern that early commencement of politicking will divert attention of the government away from governance. Will it not affect the performance of the administration?
We are already on auto pilot. The economy is getting stabilised, food is now more available and things are moving steadily. There is no reason for him (Tinubu) to abandon governance for politics.
The coalition group has finally unveiled the platform to contest the 2027 general elections. How do you see the move as a member of the ruling party?
They are wasting their time. I don’t want to go into individuals. But who among them has the clout to win an election? They will soon go into disarray. It is dead on arrival. Is it Senator David Mark, who frustrated the election of MKO Abiola you want to talk about? Does he have the pedigree to lead a democratic party? What is he going to tell Nigerians? Or Rauf Aregbesola, who is Tinubu’s political son? What is he going to tell Nigerians? What will Nasir El-Rufai tell Nigerians? Let’s wait and see; campaign will soon start. They are just hungry for power. They want to grasp power without alternative programme to turn things around for the country.
But they claim to have a mission to rescue Nigerians from bad governance…
Are we under any bondage? There is nothing good that will come out of their coalition. How will someone say that he is coming to rescue Nigerians since we are not under bondage?
To the average political watcher, the array of heavyweight political players involved in the coalition gives an indication that Tinubu may face a tough time in his re-election bid. Don’t you think so?
Who are the formidable politicians among them? Politics is grounded in what you have done for the people. Majority of them have been in politics for decades, what have they done to deserve public attention? How formidable are they? I can agree with you that they have an assemblage of politicians who have names and have participated in governance. But what have they to show for it?
They also have a point that the economy is hard and that Nigerians deserve a better relief. Isn’t that argument enough to make the people yearn for a change of government?
Let them suggest the better relief. If a woman wants to give birth, she must be ready to bear the labour pain. The economy hardship Nigerians are grappling with under the present government is temporary and we must be patient with the ongoing policy reforms to right the wrong of the past. As they say, nothing good comes easy. President Tinubu is doing all he is doing to put the economy right.
But APC is jittery because most of the leading voices in the coalition are from the party. Are you saying that it is not going to affect the fortune of APC in 2027?
It doesn’t matter that they are from APC. It can’t affect the fortune of APC. Politics is local. Right now I am in my Ekiti home state; I can’t feel the effect of the coalition. Nobody knows them. So, there is no cause for alarm. No shaking at all. Asiwaju Tinubu is tackling economic problems, and already things are getting better. States are now getting more money from FAAC to implement good projects, fuel price is going down and the exchange rate of the naira is getting stabilised. So, there is no cause for panic.
Is that why APC is stifling opposition as alleged by the coalition group?
Nobody is stifling opposition. El-Rufai decided to leave on his own. Aregbesola had earlier indicated that he was going to leave. There is no reason for stifling opposition. Was Amaechi not the Minister of Transportation for eight years? What did he achieve in the ministry despite the humongous loan we obtained from China? Who will forget the role David Mark played in the Abiola saga?
At the appropriate time, they will have to show us what they have to make Nigeria better. They have to show us what they have done to earn them the votes of Nigerians. By 2027, the performance of Asiwaju would have transcended their expectations.
