Mr Daniel Bwala, former spokesman for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, addressing State House correspondents, after paying a solidarity visit to President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday.
Mr Daniel Bwala, former spokesman for the former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, paid a solidarity visit to President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday.
Speaking to State House correspondents, Bwala said he visited the President to show solidarity for what he was doing to address some of the concerns of the Nigerians.
“Because if you see some of the issues the people planning to protest are raising, they talk about hunger in the land, lack of transportation; minimum wage for the workers, and Mr President has taken good steps.
“He has agreed to a new minimum wage, which is now a law. We have seen the release of the truckloads of food to the Nigerian people, and in the coming days, more are going to be done in that regard,” he said.
He said the planned protest, to a large extent, had the element of politics.
“Everybody in Nigeria acknowledges that there is suffering and the suffering did not start last year.
“There is no reform that is easy. Go to Brazil, any part of the world, if you’re going to do reform, it is not going to be easy.
“It means that all of us will have to readjust, but the role of the government when initiating a reform is to bring about interventions, which is what the President is doing,” said Bwala.
He said the Local Government Autonomy recently granted by the Supreme Court was the masterstroke because it had taken governance to the grassroots.
“So, I came to celebrate, encourage and show our solidarity and encourage the Nigerian people to rally round the President.
“We have only one President, and to me patriotism is defending the leader, patriotism is showing support and ensuring that we push the development of this country.
“What is exciting for me in all of this situation is that the President has a firm grasp of what is going on in the country, the sufferings of the Nigerian people, and he has shown that concern,” he said.
He said he had officially left the Peoples Democratic Party and was making plans to join the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“So, yes, I’m on my way to APC and that is where I have always belonged.
“Remember, I had been in APC for eight years, from the days of President Buhari.
“I left because of differences but I’m back, and this time it is not about party, is about us coming together as a country to make sure that the country not only survives, that it is on a good trajectory.
“When that time for politics comes, those who are there will do. But I’m fully committed to President Bola Tinubu and in the coming days I will do my official re-entry to APC,” he said.