TheCable

Ike Ekweremadu, deputy senate president, on Thursday, said propaganda would not keep the All Progressives Congress (APC) in power.

Ekweremadu, who was speaking at the rebranding conference of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja, alleged that the APC rose to power on the wings of propaganda and had failed to fulfill any of its promises.

“Looking at the way our country is being run by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government today, we are only going back to where we started from,” he said.

“Recall that our founding fathers, under the aegis of G34 led by His Excellency, Dr Alex Ekwueme, courageously looked tyranny in the face and demanded a return to democratic rule. Our great party men and women stood up when it mattered most to oppose anti-democratic forces, human rights abuses, inequity, injustice, and despotism.

“It is safe, therefore, to say that we are back in the trenches for democracy because credible and responsible opposition is an essential, indeed indispensable component of thriving democracy and good governance.

“Meanwhile, as could be seen from the events of the past few months, it is evident that while a party may ride to power on the wings of propaganda, it takes more than propaganda to govern well and retain goodwill. The APC won by promising much more than they could deliver, hoping to deliver less. Unfortunately, the chicken has come home to roost sooner than anticipated. No campaign promise, I repeat, no promise made by the present APC administration has been kept.

“They promised to scale up the exchange rate of our currency to a naira to one US dollar. Have they kept this promise? They promised to bring back the Chibok girls in three months. Have they brought back the Chibok girls? They promised to pay N5,000 to 25 million unemployed youths. Have they paid a kobo to any youth? They promised free meals to our children in the schools. Have they given any? They recently promised to end the Boko Haram insurgency in December 2015, we earnestly hope and pray that this particular promise is kept in the overall interest of our nation.”

The deputy senate president urged the PDP to set-up a shadow cabinet to hold the APC to account.

“We must not deter in holding the APC-led federal government accountable. The ruling party must always be put at the mercy of the truth. That is the job of the opposition: to confront errors with the truth; to stand up for what is right; to offer constructive criticisms of the follies and errors of the ruling party; and to proffer better ideas for moving the nation forward. We need to urgently set up a shadow cabinet to benchmark the APC-led federal government on its promises. It is the greatest service we can offer to Nigeria and her democracy at this time. That is our task. Citizens and indeed posterity will not be kind to us if we fail in these laudable goals.”