Regional government, social justice necessary to address the nation’s problems— APC Spokesman, seeks Tinubu’s urgent intervention on hardship

By David Odama

The National coordinator of the league of APC Publicity Secretaries, Chief Douglas Otaru has said that the leadership crisis, insecurity, hunger and other hardships being encountered by Nigerians can only be address if issues of regional government, social injustice are visited and tackled.

According to Chief Douglas Otaru, Nigeria’s progress can be resolved through discussions at regional levels.

Otaru who was exchanging views with Journalists on national issues, acknowledged that the country was faced with challenges the present administration’ inherited coupled with the removal of fuel subsidy which he was quick to say was done in good fate by the Tinubu administration’.

“Mr President has a joker to play to win the hearts of the Nigerian citizens. Whether you like it or not, the issues of regional government, social justice are there, and this is an age-long matter that Nigeria has been playing around with”

“I want Mr. President, in addressing this issue of social justice to bring an equilibrium into the social space. The first thing he should do is to convoke what I call the regional roundtable. Every region should assemble stakeholders from the political circle to business, the student, among others, to address these leadership disorder.

” let our present present his blueprint to the people so that they will know the trajectory that he is taking in solving the age-old problem of Nigeria.”

On the subsidy removal Otaru who is also the Nasarawa State APC spokesman applauded President Tinubu for his courage to dare to trudge where others have failed, pointing out quickly that there are loopholes in the implementation of the policy, thus paving the way for the widespread misunderstanding of his administration’s intention.

“Yes, nobody is saying that the removal of subsidy is a bad decision. He did that for the good of this country. The only area with challenges is the lack of concerted ability to articulate the implementation before removing the subsidy on petrol.

Yes, let’s say he did that in good faith, there was an error in the implementation strategy, and nothing is wrong I must say. if he goes back to the roundtable to reinvent, and rearticulate his strategy to make it a more inclusive policy for the Nigerians, that administration will be applauded”, The APC spokesman declared.

He said a situation where Mr. President would release funds to state governors and the funds released do not trickle down to the masses, call for worry, caution in the management and the ways savings from the subsidy removal are channelled.

“Accruals from subsidy removal should be put into specific people-oriented programmes to ensure that education from primary to secondary schools are made free adding that If these were done, the common man on the street, and the parents in their respective homes, will have a relief

“Secondly, the federal government should declare free medical care for the aged, pregnant women and children in the society. If President Tinubu does this, removal of subsidy and whatever gain that comes from the removal of subsidy would have trickled down to the ordinary man on the streets”.

“Again, one of the things I would have loved Mr President to do would have been to revamp the school feeding programme and make it more robust. But in this case, it should be a community-driven project, where the community plays a major role rather than engaging the services of outside to manage the scheme.

Speaking on the allegations making the rounds that Governor Abdullahi Sule betrayed the North central zone of the Party in its quest to produce the National chairman of the APC, Otaru described Governor Sule as a perfect gentleman who has no powers to stand alone and decide the leadership of the Party, adding that what Governor stand for in Nasarawa and the entire North Central Region is the best.

“My governor, Engr. Abdullahi A Sule is not the chairman of the APC. He is not the one who decides who becomes the Chairman of the APC. If anybody is aggrieved by my governor’s relationship with the National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, it is left for them.

“if the north central want the National chairmanship of the Party to come to its region, then they should mobilize and go to the NEC meeting and canvass for support from the other governors. My governor does not have the unilateral power to handpick anybody to become the National Chairman of the Party,” he stated , describing the sponsors of such propaganda as faceless and unknown to the Party in the State or region.

The ruling APC spokesman also expressed optimism that all the crises rocking the various chapters of the Party will be resolved through the instrumentality of the APC National Executive Council meeting and the mini-convention as well as other mechanisms before the 2027 general elections.