Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, has said that the All Progressives Congress should stop blaming former President Goodluck Jonathan for the current economic misfortunes of the country because Nigerians would not have voted for change if the past administration performed well.
In an interview with Punch, Onaiyekan insisted that APC should stop assigning blames and start performing.
He said “There is no government that is perfect and, certainly, the government of Jonathan was not perfect. Every government makes its own mistakes and that is the beauty of democracy. Having run government for four years or eight years, as the case may be, and you made mistakes and have not made much progress on the economy, it boils down to the fact that you do not deserve to continue ruling. It is normal in a democracy.
“Therefore, you can tell APC to stop blaming the past and say, ‘That is why you won the election. If Jonathan had done very well, you would not have won the election, so, stop complaining.’ Now, you have a golden opportunity to show Nigerians how to run a good economy and you better start doing it fast. And you may not be able to do it fast if you spend too much time putting every blame on what had happened in the past. We know things are not perfect, so we need to rectify them. This government has not only the burden of inheriting the economic situation that is riddled with corruption; it has also inherited an economy that is quite depressed.
“There was a time when Jonathan was getting over a $100 for every barrel of oil. Today, oil is running down to $35, which means that the money that is available for the government to use is much less. Whatever the case or whatever reason, there must be a strict arrangement of our economic system such that with the little money available, something tangible can be achieved.
“I don’t know whether oil is still at $100 a barrel, work would have been much easier for the APC. But as it is, they have inherited a big job. I hope they are not going to say ‘I am sorry, I don’t want it. Please, let Jonathan come back because we didn’t know it was going to be like this.’ We Nigerians are prepared to cooperate and make sure that they succeed because they are there for us; they are there for the next four years.
“Certainly, if they perform well and there is free and fair elections, Nigerians will decide whether they want them to continue or whether there is a new group again claiming they would work better, because within the next four years there will be a new political party.”