One of the presidential aspirants in Nigeria and former governor of Lagos State, Sen. Bola Tinubu has taken a swipe at Nigerian leaders, saying he would tackle the challenges they had failed to address if elected the president.
Speaking in Lagos while addressing hundreds of young people who gathered to declare their support for his ambition, Sen. Tinubu said “we feel your anger when you are angry. I don’t blame you, the promises of the past have failed to realize that you build a future from the onset, from the kindergarten. We cannot continue the lamentation of the past.”
He stated that the promises of a better Nigeria by the past administrations have not been attained. He therefore encouraged the youth to forgo the pains of such failed promises.
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It’s noteworthy that President Muhammadu Buhari promised three main things when he was elected as Nigerian president, namely: tackling insecurity, anti-corruption and improvement in the economy.
While Nigeria was battling Boko Haram insurgency in Northern Nigeria before Buhari was sworn in, killings and kidnappings by various groups across the country have become the norm under his watch.
The economy has also gotten worse with inflation reaching unprecedented levels while the president has been repeatedly criticized for undermining his own anti-corruption efforts.
It was not only in the area of failed promises that Sen. Tinubu took a swipe at Buhari and other former presidents, he equally took a direct but veiled swipe at the President for referring to young Nigerians as lazy.
“We cannot continue with excuses or NEPA failure. No. No nation can make rapid development without electricity. Give us that and if we cannot be successful, then you can abuse us. But you cannot give us erratic electricity that is undependable and then blame us again that we are lazy,” Tinubu tendered.
“No. We have enough gas to fire up our electricity. We can supply the rest of Europe with gas and we can make money.”
He therefore presented himself as the best candidate that deserves the support of Nigerians, hence urged the youth to forget the failure of the past and obtain their PVCs ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The presidential aspirant went further to enjoin the electorate to ensure they grab their Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC), as he advised those who had done so earlier to go for revalidation of the cards.
“If you have no PVC, if you have no revalidation of that PVC, you don’t know whether it has expired. Don’t forget that there is an expiring date, even if you have cash.
“So, go and revalidate the card. Those of you who have not registered must go there. You can’t be part of 1.4 billion people on Instagram and have no card for God’s sake.” he said.
While selling his candidacy to his audience, he encouraged the youth to vote for him in the coming APC primaries so he can replicate his performance as a former Lagos governor across the country.
“When I started, we used to pick dead bodies on the street. Today, Lagos is one of the cleanest of progressives states. We deserve your clap. Some of you would not have been able to sit for WAEC if not for the payment by our government. You were beneficiaries. Clap for that and you must vote.
“If you vote for that, you can create the path for free education at the university level. We can build a new Nigeria where prosperity will not be isolated or limited to the family of the poor (rich).” he said.
It’s worth noting that since the end of his tenure in 2007 as governor of Lagos State, Sen. Tinubu has played a dominant role in who manages the affairs of the State. His anointed candidates have always won elections as governors of Lagos, Nigeria’s richest and arguably most-populous State.
Tinubu’s remarks about the incumbent government led by Buhari is really intriguing, ridiculous and laughable, to say the least. We mustn’t forget in a hurry that he was majorly instrumental to the latter’s electoral victories in 2015 and 2019, respectively.
Before their alliance in the build-up to the 2015 election, Buhari had contested and lost three consecutive presidential elections: 2003, 2007 and 2011, respectively.
So, I wonder how he could abruptly make a u-turn to publicly criticize the government he played a serious role towards its emergence. It’s more confusing to note that he is a leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). How do you reconcile this?
Sen. Tinubu’s claims and criticisms are indications that politicians, particularly in this part of the world, are and remain unreliable.