VANGUARD
The Mayor of Urhoboland and a top-notch chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Eshanekpe Israel, a.k.a Akpodoro has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led administration to as a matter of national emergency reverse the removal of fuel subsidy as he lamented the economic hardship facing Nigerians, noting that only the living can enjoy good governance.
He stated this at a well-attended stakeholders forum in Abuja over the weekend as he took a swipe at the economic management team of the current administration adding that the President’s handlers aren’t advising him well on what to do immediately to cushion the effects of the austerity measure which his administration has embarked upon from inception.
The result was a surprise as most observers had expected Mr Sharif’s party – widely seen as having the powerful military’s backing – to win given Mr Khan had been jailed on charges ranging from corruption to having married illegally and his party was barred from the ballot sheet.
To govern, a candidate has to show they are at the head of a coalition with a simple majority of 169 seats in the National Assembly.
Bilawal Bhutto from the PPP, which received the third largest number of votes, has said that they have not had any formal discussions with Imran Khan’s PTI or Nawaz Sharif’s PMLN. But the PMLN have said that Mr Bhutto’s father did meet for an informal meeting with Mr Sharif’s brother in Lahore.
The Karachi-based MQM party has also made a surprising return in the polls, winning 17 seats, and could play a role in any coalition.
Of the National Assembly’s 366 seats, 266 are decided by direct voting and 70 are reserved – 60 for women and 10 for non-Muslims – and these are allocated according to the strength of each party in the assembly.
Under Pakistan’s rules, independent candidates are not eligible to be allocated reserved seats in parliament.
On Sunday police blocked streets near the electoral commission building in the city of Rawalpindi in anticipation of protests, while police in Islamabad said action would be taken against demonstrators…
The Mayor expressed regrets that the President removed the subsidy from Petroleum products without adequately preparing for the same maintaining that, at this juncture, the President should consider the imperatives of rescinding his decision on the fuel subsidy policy.
“The prices of commodities,” he noted, “Are rising by the moment, leaving the already downtrodden in a helpless situation such that citizens could no longer feed, let alone feed well.”
He dared the president to visit the hospitals in Nigeria to see the damage his anti-masses policies and programmes have caused.
He seeks an early reversal of the fiscal policies of the administration to cushion the effects of the austerity measures as he lamented the delayed take-off of the operations of already fixed refineries in the country.
According to the Gberegolor, Ughelli South Local Government Area-born ex-agitator, “Were it not for the reason that Nigerians are resilient and understanding people, the entire country would have gone up in flame by now as he warned the government to consider the plight of poor Nigerians before formulating harsh policies that could destabilise the nation…
