MKO Abiola Wouldn’t Have Allowed World Bank, IMF Control Nigeria Like Tinubu And Past Presidents Did —Femi Falana
Falana berated President Tinubu and his predecessors for allowing foreign organisations to influence the direction of their governments without considering its end results on Nigerian masses.
Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Femi Falana has distanced the socioeconomic policies implemented so far by the current government of Bola Tinubu from what the late Mashood Abiola promised the country in 1992.
The senior lawyer stated this on Thursday evening when he appeared on ChannelsTV, stating that Abiola’s manifestos were built on total rejection of policies supported by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Mr Falana berated President Tinubu and his predecessors for allowing foreign organisations to influence the direction of their governments without considering its end results on Nigerian masses.
He said, “One of the ministers did say that the programmes of this government look like the programmes of the winner of the June 12 election, Bashorun MKO Abiola. I think the programmes of Abiola were captured in his manifestos, ‘Farewell to Poverty.’”
The lawyer noted that “successive regimes, be it military or civilians, all the regimes particularly since 1986 have implemented one policy or the other of imperialism”.
He continued, “What is going on now in town (in Nigeria) is the religious implementation of neo-liberal policies dictated by IMF and World Bank.
“Whereas, Chief MKO Abiola had made the point that as President of Nigeria, he would not allow the IMF and the World Bank to control Nigeria. In fact, in his characteristic style, he did say, ‘Who are these young men running the IMF to tell us what to do with our country?’”
“I think for us to celebrate the June 12 mandate, the government in power holds it as a duty to promote the happiness of the Nigerian people in line with Section 16 of the Constitution and of course in accordance with the manifestos of the winner of the election,” he added.
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SaharaReporters reported on February 12, 2024, that the IMF had praised President Tinubu for his policies and for having the courage to take actions his predecessors could not take.
The IMF also urged the Nigerian government to ensure a complete phase-out of fuel and electricity subsidies despite the rising inflation and high cost of living in the country.
The global lender gave the advice in a statement issued at the conclusion of its Executive Board’s Post Financing Assessment with Nigeria.
However, a civil organisation chaired by Mr Falana, the Alliance on Surviving Covid-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), had called on President Tinubu’s government to reject the pressure from the global lender, IMF, to hike fuel prices and electricity tariff in the country.
