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The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s campaign spokesperson, Alwan Hassan, over his failed attempt to demonstrate the functionality of Nigeria’s 112 emergency line during a live television appearance, describing the incident as a national embarrassment.
The party said the incident exposed serious questions about the country’s emergency response system and called on the Federal Government to address its shortcomings instead of attributing the failure to network problems.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Spokesperson of the NDC National Campaign Council, Dr Chiogo Constance Ikokwu, urged the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration to acknowledge the challenges confronting public services and stop what the party described as misleading claims about government performance.
Ikokwu also asked the ruling party to prepare to leave office in 2027, insisting that an administration led by the NDC presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and his running mate, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, would address the country’s challenges.
The statement described Hassan’s failed demonstration as an embarrassing attempt to showcase a public safety service that should be readily accessible to Nigerians in emergencies.
It read: “The failed attempt by President Bola Tinubu’s Campaign Spokesperson, Mallam Alwan Hassan, to demonstrate the functionality of Nigeria’s 112 emergency line on national television was nothing short of a national embarrassment, and a prime example of the total flop of All Progressives Congress (APC) government that we’ve been speaking about.
“In what should have been a straightforward demonstration of a critical public safety service, the emergency line failed to respond. The very system he sought to showcase as working became a live illustration of a government that has collapsed.”
The NDC said the failure raised concerns about the preparedness of emergency response agencies to assist citizens during road accidents, violent attacks, medical emergencies and other life-threatening situations.
It rejected the explanation that network problems were responsible for the failed demonstration, arguing that the government should focus on identifying and resolving the problem rather than making excuses.
The party also linked the incident to what it described as wider governance failures, including insecurity, poorly equipped hospitals, unreliable public infrastructure, weak institutions and the rising cost of living.
It accused the administration of paying greater attention to defending its public image than resolving problems affecting ordinary Nigerians.
“Governance is not about what government spokespersons say on television, it is about what ordinary Nigerians experience when they need their government most,” the statement added.
The opposition party maintained that a functional emergency line was essential to public safety and should not be treated as a public relations tool.
It further called on the Federal Government to ensure that Nigerians could rely on the emergency service when lives were at risk.
“Nigerians deserve a government that works, institutions that function and public services that can be trusted when lives are on the line. Public safety is not a propaganda exercise. And the lives of Nigerians are too important to be reduced to a failed television demonstration,” the statement added.
