The All Progressives Congress (APC) National Working Committee has explained why the speculated meeting between President Bola Tinubu and the United States President, Joe Biden could not be held during the recent meeting of the United Nation’s General Assembly (UNGA) held in New York.
The APC clarification was on the heels of media reports attributed to Phrank Shaibu, Media Aide to the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar who accused the Tinubu administration of peddling falsehood.
National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka in a statement said there was no basis for interaction between the two leaders having met at another world engagement, the G-20 Nations summit in India, before gathering of world leaders in New York.
Also reacting to the return of fuel subsidy, which the Tinubu administration said it has jettisoned having dismissed it as a drain on the nation’s resources, Morka claimed that government intervention was to ensure stability.
Morka further argued that the Tinubu administration has no reason to peddle falsehood or indulge in propaganda as he noted that “President Tinubu is committed to ensuring an inclusive, honest, transparent and accountable governance system.”
The statement reads in part:” Shaibu’s claim that fuel subsidy is back is not correct. The government’s intervention to ensure some measure of price stability and predictability does not amount to the return of the ruinous fuel subsidy of the recent past.
“Lifting the Visa ban on Nigerians by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities should ordinarily make any well-meaning Nigerian happy. Diplomatic rapprochement between Nigeria and UAE authorities is ongoing and details of outcomes will soon be made public.
“The matter of the proposed meeting with United States of America President Joe Biden does not even require elaboration. Having met with President Tinubu on the sidelines of the G-20 Nations summit in India, another meeting with President Biden during the United Nation’s General Assembly (UNGA) had become unnecessary and was not even on President Tinubu’s schedule, contrary to preliminary indications on the matter.
“Nigeria is facing pressing challenges that require focused efforts and undivided attention. Issues such as economic recovery, security of lives and property, infrastructure development, and social welfare demand continuous, sustained and innovative efforts.
“President Tinubu is committed to ensuring an inclusive, honest, transparent and accountable governance system. We encourage citizens to actively participate in democratic processes, ventilate their views, and contribute constructively to national conversations.
As the discerning people that we are, we remain confident that Nigerians will continue to differentiate between genuine, constructive and development-oriented criticisms and those driven by self-interest, mercenary considerations and disruptive political agenda.
“While we urge Nigerians to ignore purveyors of fake news and other inanities, it is obvious that Shaibu and his likes will stop at nothing in their desperation to distort facts and give oxygen to their politically knocked-out principal. But that can only worsen his infamy in the light of the President’s determined commitment and strides to improving the social and economic conditions for all Nigerians.
“The PDP and all its agents of misinformation should know by now that no amount of sleazy propaganda, muckraking, lies, half-truths, misrepresentations, misinformation or disinformation will confer the presidency of Nigeria on their candidate.
“Nigerians have freely chosen our party, the APC, and President Bola Tinubu, to continue to steer the ship of state. And the President is making good his campaign promises to deliver purposeful leadership to remake Nigeria, open the economy to rewarding investments, promote inclusive growth, create jobs, secure lives and property and renew hope for a vibrant future.”
