The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has declared 2018 a year when poverty, job loss and impunity “promoted by the (Muhammadu) Buhari-led administration”.

While wishing Nigerians a happy New Year celebration, the National Spokesperson of CUPP, Ikenga Ugochinyere, stated that 2019 will be more bloody and painful if Buhari is not rejected at the polls.

He said in a New Year Message: “2018 was a year when poverty, job loss, impunity, tribalism, deliberate destruction of lives and properties was promoted by the APC-led administration against its own people.

“A new report by The World Poverty Clock shows Nigeria has overtaken India as the country with the most extreme poor people in the world. India has a population seven times larger than Nigeria’s. The struggle to lift more citizens out of extreme poverty is an indictment on successive Nigerian governments which have mismanaged the country’s vast oil riches through incompetence and corruption.

“The 86.9 million Nigerians now living in extreme poverty represents nearly 50% of its estimated 180 million population. As Nigeria faces a major population boom, it will become the world’s third largest country by 2050, it’s a problem will likely worsen.”

Going further Ugochinyere lamented that the APC government has done nothing to reduce the level of impunity in the country.

“Nigeria,” he said, “has been ranked 13 out of 14 countries in the 2018 Global Impunity Index. This administration has done nothing to strengthen its laws to deal with killers, and we know why and government knows that as well.

“A lot of people are doing good things and working hard. But it needs to be even more because it is clear that there is a climate of impunity. When people are committing serious crimes, they get away with it, without being brought to justice, just because they are aligned with ruthless government.”

Ugochinyere appealed to all citizens to forget the pains of last year and welcome the new year with hope.

“The year 2019 holds a bright future for Nigeria starting with the rejection of Buhari and APC at the polls,” Ugochinyere said.

He urged Nigerians to be ready to defend their votes with all legal arsenal at their disposal, adding that failure to do so, the pains of 2018 will be a child’s play compared to pains of 2019.

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