UPDATE: YOU RISK BEING STONED, IF PRAISE BUHARI IN PUBLIC

A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that any Nigerian who dares to praise President Muhammadu Buhari in public risks being stoned by Nigerians who are angry about the country’s economic woes.

This is not to say that Mr Buhari is responsible for the hardship in the country, he said.

“If you say that President Buhari has done well in the marketplace and church, you may be stoned or criticised,” said Andrew Uchendu, a former senator who had represented Rivers East District.

“But the truth is that he (Buhari) has performed well,” he added.

Mr Uchendu made the remarks in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, shortly after his inauguration as grand patron of the Frontier for Peace and Unity, a Non-Governmental Organisation in the state.

“The gullibility of the society has made it difficult for us to reason and see the truth in the tremendous milestones this administration has made.

“People forget that Nigeria’s problems have been made complex by the failures of successive administration since 1992, which cannot be solely pinned on one government or anybody,” he said.

The former senator said the current administration’s “heavy” investments in agriculture and the ban on rice importation have resulted in tremendous growth in local rice production.

He mentioned other achievements of the administration to include reactivation of oil palm production, reactivation of ports, railways and the building of roads and bridges.