APC Fixation On Politics, Propaganda Reason Nigerians Are Poorer Today — Rhodes-Vivour
The 2023 Labour Party governorship candidate in Lagos State, Mr. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, has criticized the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), accusing the party of prioritizing propaganda and political spin over governance, which he says has directly contributed to Nigeria’s worsening poverty.
Rhodes-Vivour condemned the APC-led federal government for what he described as a pattern of deception, particularly in its handling of major infrastructure projects and economic data.
He referenced the recently commissioned segment of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, which has sparked widespread controversy.
“Not only is (sic) shameful to roll out the drums to commission less than 5 percent of a project, they still had to lie and spew propaganda on the so called 30km,” he stated on Monday on X, criticizing the federal government’s claims that 30 kilometers of the 750 km highway had been completed.
“This is the same way the minister of finance went abroad to reel out fake data only to be checkmated by data from the CBN days after. So embarrassing.”
Rhodes-Vivour’s comments follow independent investigation by an online platform @Objectvmedia, which contested claims by the government and political commentators like Mr. Reno Omokri that 30 km of the road had been completed and driven.
Video documentation and on-ground assessments suggest that even 20 km of the highway may not yet be motorable, raising questions about the accuracy of the government’s progress reports.
The highway, a flagship infrastructure project of the Bola Tinubu administration, is expected to span from Lagos in the South-West to Calabar in the South-South upon completion.
On May 31, Tinubu formally commissioned what was described as the phase 1, section 1 (30km by six lanes) of the highway, a move hailed by government supporters as a milestone.
However, Rhodes-Vivour and others argue that the event was more spectacle than substance.
He also criticized the government approach to national security, saying: “While insecurity is on the rise they are shamelessly promoting the “genius” of the NSA.”
Rhodes-Vivour warned that the consequences of such governance are being borne directly by citizens, noting that Nigerians are significantly poorer today than they were less than a decade ago when the APC assumed power in 2015.
“The harsh truth is that a party fixated on politics and propaganda cannot govern effectively. That is why Nigerians are much poorer today than they were less than a decade ago,” he added.
APC Fixation On Politics, Propaganda Reason Nigerians Are Poorer Today — Rhodes-Vivour is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
