Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has warned the APC-led Federal Government against actions that could weaken opposition parties. He recently had his say at the APM South-West Town Hall Meeting in Akure, Ondo State.
Stressing that there is no democracy if it is a one-party system, Makinde urged the National Economic Council (NEC) to tax prosperity rather than poverty as he unveiled his RESET agenda in the South-West.
The APM Presidential candidate added that his agenda would focus on making the economy more productive and expanding opportunities for Nigerians to move out of poverty.
His words, “Our fore fathers worked really hard to give us federalism, to give us multi-party democracy because I do not understand how a party in power, with 31 governors, with almost all the instruments of coercion, they are still afraid, they won’t allow opposition to thrive.
Go to Oyo state, whether you are opposition or you’re in the same party as the ruling party in the state, the space is completely open. That is what we demand from the federal government. Stop using the backdoor to cause crisis for the opposition parties, there is no democracy if it is a one-party system.
The RESET agenda contemplates a Nigeria where, as they will say in Ibadan, federal allocation will be ‘Arakun bi aso gbagi’ (there is always room for more), it won’t be the main gig for us because once the economy becomes productive, there will be several avenues for us to take our people from poverty to prosperity.
And I’ve always argued and I did before now when I had the opportunity to speak about it, in house at the National Economic Council meeting. I said, please, let the people be productive, when they are productive, they become prosperous. When they are prosperous, tax prosperity, don’t tax poverty. So, the RESET agenda is for us to tax prosperity not poverty.”
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