The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has dismissed claims made by Mr Gbenga Olawepo-Hassim, suggesting that Nigeria’s economy performed better under former Presidents Obasanjo and Jonathan than under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
The party, in a statement issued by its spokesperson, Mogaji (Hon) Seye Oladejo, on Friday, said, “Such a conclusion can only be drawn by someone with a fundamental misunderstanding of public sector economic management or a deliberate willingness to distort history for political relevance.”
The APC stated that the Obasanjo and Jonathan administrations operated during an era of historic oil booms, unprecedented external reserves, and comparatively lower population pressure.
It was added that, yet, despite earning hundreds of billions of dollars from crude oil sales, those governments failed to build buffers, diversify the economy, fix the power sector, or end Nigeria’s dangerous dependence on fuel subsidy and multiple exchange rates.
“Instead, they entrenched a rent-seeking culture, expanded consumption without productivity, and handed over an economy structurally unprepared for shocks.
“It is worth reminding Mr Olawepo-Hassim that the Jonathan administration exited office with a collapsed power sector despite billions of dollars spent, an import-dependent economy vulnerable to oil price swings, a fuel subsidy regime riddled with corruption, and a currency crisis already unfolding before 2015.
“These are not opinions; they are facts on record. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu did not inherit economic comfort.
“He inherited economic deceit-a system propped up by subsidies Nigeria could no longer afford, foreign exchange arbitrage that rewarded cronies, and a fiscal structure that was unsustainable for a nation of over 200 million people, the statement read.
Oladejo stressed that “unlike Mr Olawepo-Hassim and other political sojourners who offer hindsight criticism without responsibility, President Tinubu has confronted these distortions head-on.
“The removal of fuel subsidy and unification of the foreign exchange market were not experiments; they were inevitable corrections postponed for decades by administrations more concerned with optics than outcomes.”
He said further that Nigeria’s economy is too large, too complex, and too consequential to be subjected to the shallow nostalgia and casual judgments of individuals with no proven record of managing public resources at scale.
“This is not a classroom debate or a campaign slogan contest; it is the economic survival of over 200 million Nigerians.”
The Lagos APC then cautioned the public “to treat Mr Olawepo-Hassim’s comments for what they are- political noise dressed up as analysis. History will record that when hard decisions were required, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu acted with courage, clarity, and conviction, while critics hid behind selective memory and convenient amnesia.
“Nigeria is correcting decades of economic mismanagement. That process will not be derailed by revisionist narratives or opportunistic commentary.”
