Tinubu Has Done More To Address Poverty Than Previous Presidents – Morka

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has defended President Bola Tinubu’s handling of poverty and hunger in Nigeria, saying his administration has done more to address the underlying causes of the challenges than previous governments.

Felix Morka, spokesperson for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, said former presidents failed to eradicate poverty despite having opportunities to address the problem during their tenures.

Morka made this known during an appearance on Arise News Channel on Tuesday, where he defended Tinubu’s remarks on the historical roots of poverty in Nigeria.

According to him, the president was not evading responsibility for the economic challenges facing Nigerians but was providing historical context to explain how the country arrived at its present situation.

“The president is not evading or attempting to dodge responsibility That’s been entrusted to his office as president. What the president was speaking about was simply profiling the history of the endemic poverty that we are confronted with in our country.

“You know, doctor, I’m sure, you know, some of us have AIDS now on our side, and so we live through quite a number of decades already, you know, in this country, and we know that poverty is very familiar with us.

“Growing up in the Delta state as I did, I, you know, saw poverty all around, you know, where I was raised in my community. Poverty is something that is, you know, a feature of many societies around the globe,” he said.

Morka argued that poverty had existed in Nigeria long before Tinubu assumed office, accusing opposition figures of presenting hunger and economic hardship as problems that emerged only in recent years.

He said Tinubu’s comments in Kaduna were intended to highlight the historical factors behind the country’s poverty rather than shift blame for the current economic situation.

“Poverty has been with us for a very long time. Now, in the historical context, as president, when you are president, doctor, you are president today, but you are a successor in office to presidents who came before you.

“So when this president looks back and says, look, you know, this problem, this phenomenon that we’re dealing with today, we’re contending with, that I’m working really hard to fix was created by some of those who today are pointing fingers,” Morka said.

The APC spokesperson specifically referenced former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who served under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, arguing that their administration had failed to eradicate poverty during its eight years in office.

“I think atiku was vice president of the Federal Republic for eight years with the former president, Obasanjo. Now, between the two of them, they had eight years to eradicate poverty, assuming that poverty was that easy to snap your finger and eradicate. Now, let me quickly say that, you know, they didn’t eradicate poverty.

“All of the other presidents who have come before them did not eradicate poverty, even when, even if we’re to suggest that they had a constitutional obligation to eradicate poverty, they didn’t, they couldn’t eradicate poverty,” he said.

Morka maintained that Tinubu’s reference to previous administrations was justified, insisting that the country’s present economic challenges could not be understood without considering its political and economic history.

He also dismissed criticism that the president was using the past to avoid accountability for the hardship Nigerians currently face.

“There is no present without the past.

“The present is only the present because there’s a past, which this president was referring to. So that is not, you know, evading responsibility,” he added.

The APC spokesperson further claimed that Tinubu had taken more decisive steps than previous presidents to address the underlying conditions responsible for poverty and hunger, arguing that earlier administrations avoided difficult decisions because they were unpopular.

“Matter of fact, this president, more than any other president before him, has unmistakably done so much more to fix the foundational conditions that’s responsible for the poverty we speak about, for the hunger that we speak about.

“All of the other people before him didn’t do it. They didn’t have the guts to do it. Because, you know, doing it wasn’t popular,” Morka said.

He also accused opposition figures of contributing to Nigeria’s economic difficulties through the sale of national assets and failure to meet workers’ entitlements, arguing that those criticising the current administration should account for their records in office.

“And that’s what we’re having this conversation, where these opposition figures who were responsible for selling off all of Nigeria’s assets, completely sending millions of Nigerians into penury by not paying them even their basic entitlement that they worked for. the ones who today are pointing fingers, they cannot pontificate endlessly,” he said.

Morka’s comment comes amid reactions to Tinubu’s remarks at the APC campaign rally in Kaduna, where the president accused his political opponents of creating hunger and poverty in Nigeria, insisting that his administration is working to eradicate the challenges.

Tinubu made the remarks on Saturday at the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign rally at the Kaduna Township Stadium, Kaduna State, where he sought the electorate’s support for a second term in office ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

The president accused former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and other opposition leaders of creating the economic challenges his administration was working to address.