Things are bad, hard in Nigeria, says Odigie-Oyegun

NATIONAL Chairman of the All Progressives Con­gress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, yesterday said President Muham­madu Buhari and the party were aware that things are currently bad, hard and tough in Nigeria.

Speaking after he was honoured with the ‘Alum­nus of the Year’ award by the University of Ibadan Alumni Association (UIAA) at a luncheon and award ceremony held at the University of Ibadan, he urged the citizenry to be patient with Buhari as he lays a solid foundation for a totally new nation.

Odigie-Oyegun, who assured that the tough time Nigerians are experiencing currently would fizzle out soon, said Buhari means well for the country.

He said that Buhari is working out solid policies that would provide lasting solutions to the myriad of socio-economic and po­litical challenges besetting the country.

Buhari, governors and APC, he said, are not deaf, dumb and blind to the plight of Nigerians on the hard time they are passing through, saying the party could not continue to give an excuse.

His words: “But the people elected to solve these very problems took over this nation in such bad shape. 

What any of us never calculated would ever happen, happened. The price of crude col­lapsed in a very precipitate manner, such that it did not give anybody time to plan or develop a fallback situation. “Yes, things are bad. Yes, the people of the nation are groaning. But we have a President, who rather than have plastic solution, has decided to make himself, and virtual­ly the governors the sacri­ficial lamb in establishing a foundation for a totally different nation.

“It is hard work and it is a tough work. In the peri­od, it is going to be a lot of pains and we are already in it. We cannot solve all the problems because he has a four-year term. Our prayer is that God will make him strong enough because he is one of the people who have the sac­rificing courage to take the kind of decisions that are vital and necessary.

“The kind of discipline that Nigeria needs to prog­ress, he has it. Yes, it is hard time. But I have no doubt that the future is very bright,” he stated.