Morka: Unlike Buhari, Others, Tinubu Staked His Political Interests With Unpopular Policies

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The National Publicity Secretary of All Progressives Congress (APC), Felix Morka, has said unlike former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan, and Muhammadu Buhari, President Bola Tinubu staked his 2027 political interest by embarking on policies that made him unpopular including removal of the fuel subsidy.

Morka disclosed this while addressing a press conference in Abuja to commemorate the second year anniversary of the Tinubu-led government.

He said, “In two years of this administration, we made clear that this president has enacted a vision and proclaimed a mission to tackle problems that were created generationally in our country. All of the difficulties we speak about today didn’t drop from the sky. They were long in coming.

“As I said, all the presidents who came before this president preferred to simply postpone the doomsday. Because we didn’t just wake up in the last two years to realise that fuel subsidy was a destructive device in our country.”

Morka noted that previous administration had to resort to excessive borrowing because 95-98 per cent of the country’s revenue was used to service debt.

“Our government was already completely mortgaged to these serious national economic commitments. The debt servicing and the subsidy regime. Now, how can anyone, any country, survive on that money? It was completely unsustainable.

“The difference between President Bola Tinubu and the rest of them was that this president, once he was inaugurated, he took an oath and said, you know what, enough. He knew, and we know, that doing what this president has done would likely make him unpopular in the beginning, which we are all witnesses to.

“However, that calculation and the significance of that to the electoral prospects of 2027 did not stop him because he decided to put the strategic best interest of our country over and above his own electoral calculation.

“So when the opposition simply bandy stories around, oh things have happened, rice has gone up and all that, that’s why the president is on the top, because he knew that was going to come.

“And he was willing to stake highly so our country can have that shot at not just recovery, but some serious foundational repair that can then support rapid growth and prosperity down the road. So this is a sacrificial president who is willing to stake even his own political interests for Nigeria.”