The All Progressives Congress (APC) has reacted to comments by Plateau State governor, Caleb Mutfwang, against former president Muhammadu Buhari.
According to the governor, ex-president Buhari supervised the printing and sharing of over N22 trillion during his eight-year tenure.
Governor Mutfwang accused Buhari of mortgaging the future of generations to come due to the several borrowings and reckless use of government resources under his watch.
But reacting to Mutfwang’s comment, the APC accused the governor of displaying ignorance.
The National Director of Publicity for the APC, Bala Ibrahim, frowned at Mutfwang’s utterances saying that Buhari had the necessary qualification, experience and could not have embarked on uncontrolled printing of money.
While exonerating Buhari from the current economic travail, Ibrahim stated those who know Buhari even as a military leader and former petroleum minister understand that he can’t do anything to jeopardise the economy.
“I will say the governor is probably displaying his ignorance of macro and micro-economies. When you talk about mortgaging the country or selling oil upfront for the future, I think he needs to go and learn how oil is marketed at the Rotterdam market,” he said.
“There are countries that produce oil, sell for upward of 10 years and payments made upfront. It is normal in the oil business. It didn’t start with Buhari even such a thing happened during his administration.
“For his (Mutfwang) information, Buhari is very versed and experienced when it comes to oil marketing and economy having been minister of petroleum during the military regime. He has also been one head of state that built two refineries during his time.
“So he is very conversant with the economics of oil and anyone who knows Buhari will tell you he won’t do anything that will shortchange the country or put the future of Nigeria in jeopardy.
“On the issue of money printed, I believe that is being investigated by the National Assembly and I don’t want us to start pre-empting the outcome. The governor is just playing to the gallery.
“It is not something new but a normal statement expected from the mouth of the opposition. But in playing opposition, I always like people to play constructive and not destructive criticism,” he added.
This is coming after your member has said and warned:
“I often wonder why, as a government, we concentrate more on amplifying the faults of the previous administration rather than acknowledging its numerous achievements.
”Since May 2023, we seem to have provided more ammunition to our opponents rather than strategies to put them on the defensive, which would allow the government to focus more on continuing to deliver its best for the country.”
Please, is Governor Caleb Mutfwang that states this?
“The N22.7 trillion printed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through Ways and Means overdraft for the federal government from 2015 to 2023 landed Nigeria into hyper-inflation.”
“We talked about inflation. Where has it come from? It came from 8 years of just printing money not matched by productivity. What happened was that for eight years, the weak were left to their own devices. It is the privileged few that took everything. That is the reality. So that money supply must be brought back.”
These statements are from APC member and APC Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun. Therefore, the party should not use Governor Mufwang as a scapegoat.