Musa Na Allah, Sokoto
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Sokoto State has strongly rejected claims by the Minority Leader of the Sokoto State House of Assembly, Abubakar Magaji, representing Bodinga North Constituency under the African Democratic Congress (ADC), that he has not witnessed any significant development under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The party described the lawmaker’s assessment as one-sided and politically coloured, arguing that while constructive criticism remains an essential component of democracy, it should be based on verifiable facts and a balanced assessment of government policies and achievements.
The APC’s position was contained in a rejoinder issued in Sokoto by its Publicity Secretary, Mohammed Umar, in response to comments attributed to the minority leader on Nigeria’s 66th Independence anniversary.
Umar said, “Criticism of government is part of democratic responsibility, particularly on issues such as insecurity, infrastructure, unemployment and the rising cost of living. But criticism should not be presented as a complete account of what has happened since May 2023.”
He argued that there was a fundamental difference between identifying areas where government had fallen short and claiming that virtually nothing had been achieved, insisting that the Tinubu administration had recorded measurable developments across several sectors of the economy.
According to him, the areas included economic management, infrastructure, education, energy, transportation, social protection and security, stressing that such developments could not reasonably be dismissed as non-existent.
Umar said, “There is a clear difference between identifying shortcomings and claiming that virtually nothing has been achieved. The record of the Tinubu administration contains measurable developments in economic management, infrastructure, education, energy, transportation, social protection and security.”
The APC spokesman also faulted what he described as the lawmaker’s failure to acknowledge the economic implications of reforms being implemented by the Federal Government.
He cited a June 2026 assessment by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which, according to him, reported improved macroeconomic outcomes and strengthened resilience following Nigeria’s reforms, including real Gross Domestic Product growth of about four per cent in 2025 and an increase in gross international reserves to about $46 billion at the end of the year.
He further cited World Bank figures which, he said, indicated that Nigeria’s real GDP grew by 4.2 per cent in the first half of 2026, compared with 3.9 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year, while inflation had declined substantially from its 2025 peak.
Umar acknowledged that economic reforms could impose short-term pressures on citizens, but maintained that the existence of such difficulties did not mean that measurable economic changes had not taken place.
“Reforms normally entail challenges. Acknowledging those challenges should not require pretending that the economy has recorded no measurable improvement,” he said.
On infrastructure, the APC spokesman said the Federal Government had continued to invest heavily in major road projects across the country, citing government figures which indicated that more than 2,700 kilometres of highways and major roads were under construction, reconstruction or rehabilitation as of May 2026.
He listed the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, Sokoto-Badagry Super Highway, Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Road and East-West Road among major projects being undertaken, describing them as evidence that infrastructure remained a major component of the administration’s development agenda.
Turning to the security situation, Umar said insecurity was a longstanding national challenge that predated the Tinubu administration and had persisted for more than a decade in different parts of the country.
He said the North-East and North-West had particularly suffered from insurgency, banditry and kidnapping, adding that the complexity of the security crisis required sustained institutional, military and community-based responses rather than political simplification.
“The security challenge did not begin with the Tinubu administration. Nigeria has grappled with insurgency, banditry and kidnapping for over a decade,” Umar said.
He maintained that the Federal Government had strengthened funding, intelligence sharing, operational coordination and security structures, including efforts to reinforce the security architecture in the North-West.
The APC spokesman also defended the security record of Sokoto State Governor, Dr Ahmed Aliyu, listing several interventions by the state government in support of security agencies, including the provision of patrol vehicles, armoured vehicles, motorcycles, bullet-proof vests, night-vision equipment, thermal scopes and other security hardware.
He said the state government had also supported the operationalisation of the Nigerian Air Force Base in Sokoto, upgraded the DSS tracker from 4G to 5G technology and established the Sokoto State Community Guard Corps, equipped with operational vehicles and motorcycles.
According to Umar, the administration also facilitated the establishment of military barracks in Illela and a Police Mobile Barracks at Tara village in Sabon Birni Local Government Area.
He argued that the scale of the interventions demonstrated that security remained a major priority of the administration, even as the state continued to confront banditry and other criminal activities.
“To keep saying that one has seen no significant development or effort on security requires a much stronger argument than political dissatisfaction,” Umar declared.
He urged political actors in the state to distinguish between legitimate opposition and what he described as sweeping claims unsupported by available records, saying political disagreement should not erase verifiable developments.
Umar said, “Political criticism is legitimate, but it does not become fact merely because it is delivered from the floor of a House of Assembly.”
He accused the minority leader of making what he described as unfounded insinuations against the APC administrations at the federal and state levels and urged the public to scrutinize competing claims against verifiable records.
The APC spokesman concluded, “Whatever the Minority Leader blindly alluded to are mere unfounded insinuations that hold no water and are therefore null, void and inconsequential.”
He nevertheless urged citizens to continue demanding accountability from government at all levels, stressing that democratic governance required both recognition of achievements and constructive scrutiny of shortcomings.
