The Makinde/Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation (MDPCO) has described organised labour’s three-day warning strike over the rising cost of living as a referendum against President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid, questioning the administration’s justification for seeking a second term.

In a statement by its Director of Strategic Communication, Richard Ihediwa, the campaign organisation said the industrial action had brought into sharp focus what it described as the “catastrophic” consequences of the administration’s economic policies.

“The warning strike is a direct referendum on a failed government; a stark measure of how ill-conceived and ill-implemented economic policies have triggered widespread poverty in Nigeria. It also raises a fundamental moral and political question about President Tinubu’s quest for a second term.

“We ask, how can a government that failed to shield its citizens from the consequences of its policies credibly ask the same citizens to renew its mandate?” it stated.

The organisation said the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) presidential candidate, Seyi Makinde, had an economic blueprint to address the hardship confronting Nigerians and offer an alternative to the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.

It argued that the economic crisis underlying organised labour’s Charter of Demands reflected the impact of government policies on households and workers.

“The raging economic crisis under President Tinubu, which gave rise to organised labour’s Charter of Demands, further highlights the ills of the anti-people policies of the Tinubu-led administration and the harsh realities they brought to everyday life in Nigeria.

“The APC government that lit the ‘fire’ now consuming the entire nation has become a firefighter without a hose,” the organisation said, alleging that the President had no answers to the problems arising from his administration’s policies.

The campaign also criticised what it described as delayed capital-budget implementation, repeated budget rollovers, continued borrowing and inadequate transparency and accountability.

“It is apparent that a government where capital-budget implementation has been abysmally delayed and repeatedly rolled over for three consecutive years, amidst ceaseless borrowing, diminishing transparency and accountability; amidst unfulfilled promises and running in the background of elusive gains of subsidy removal, should not expect any votes from Nigerians,” it stated.

It accused the administration of celebrating economic reforms whose claimed benefits had yet to translate into improvements in the daily lives of average Nigerians.

“Indeed, the continued celebration by the APC government of supposed gains of its economic reforms, when those claimed gains remain largely invisible in the daily lives of average Nigerians, is self-delusional.

“When wages lose value, the cost of living keeps rising and workers barely survive, government statistics and celebratory claims become meaningless,” it said.

The organisation called for economic reforms that protect livelihoods and provide transparent social safety nets, arguing that Nigerians should not be overwhelmed by the burden of government policies.

“By every reasonable measure of good governance, President Tinubu has failed a basic test. Nigerians cannot afford to promote failure. They deserve a government that has the capacity and integrity to deliver results,” it stated.

Presenting its proposed alternative, the campaign said: “The Makinde/Daura Presidency, with its Reset Nigeria Agenda, offers our nation a clear alternative with well thought-out, data-driven and people-friendly policies anchored on inclusiveness, intensive national production, adequate security, transparency and accountability in governance.” (The Sun)