Tonye Princewill: I am not against the removal of subsidy but
the approach
By Hector Spiff
Prince Tonye Princewill, the Labour Party Governorship
candidate in the 2015 general elections in Rivers State, has reacted to the
current removal of fuel subsidy by the federal government yesterday, saying
that he was not against subsidy removal but against the approach in its
removal.
Mr. Princewill in a statement today said: “Nigerians have
once again woken up to our very own equivalent of a Groundhog Day. Another fuel price hike. Let me say for the
records, I am not against the removal of subsidy. Nigeria simply cannot afford
it. What I am against is the approach to its removal. PDP neglected to deal
with the corrupt people, now APC has come and neglected to deal with the
people. Period. It takes nothing from us if we engage. There lies my issue.”
A full text of the statement has it thus: “While the
government has a good case, for one obvious reason, they have chosen not to
make it. I will explain that reason shortly. Instead they have opted to proceed
with arguably the single most masses-wide-impacting policy in spite of the pains
to the poor who they aim to protect. I say aim not claim to protect because in
a PDP / APC dominated political clime, the masses are still their target.
“Now the Labour movement is preparing to proceed with the
same outdated script. It is known even to primary school kids. Politics - Fuel
Price goes up - Protest - Fuel Price goes Down - Politics. Labour is not
involved at either end of the chain. They appear and disappear in the middle.
Meanwhile Nigerians continue to suffer. So you can see why nobody takes the
Labour movement seriously. Especially
the Federal Govt. Otherwise they would have been part of the solution, not part
of the protest.
“In 2012, the Civil Society took to the streets later backed
by the Labour movement who later abandoned them once a price drop was approved.
Now the same script is being acted out again. Beyond the merits or demerits of
the price hike, let me ask; Are Labour leaders fantastically foolish? Do they
prefer to continue to be leaders of protest or leaders of progress? Is it not
time to put up or shut up? Politics is too important to be left to politicians
and those who refuse to participate are condemned to be ruled by those who do.
Haba!!
“The Labour movement needs to be strategic in its thinking.
It's time to stop being reactive. It needs to think again. Doing the same thing
over and over and over again doesn't produce a different result. No! I make
bold to say that this is the time to revive the Labour Party or design
alternatives and participate in active party politics. You don't have to win an
election to influence the politics. If the workers use their voice and their
leaders don't sell them out, no party will protect them like their party. Until
then, I repeat - expecting a different outcome would be nothing short of
fantastically foolish.
Sent in by Hector Spiff
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