Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, has urged Nigerians to stop blaming President Bola Tinubu for the problems currently facing the country, saying that those problems were inherited.
George made this assertion on Thursday at a press briefing, which took place at his Ikoyi, Lagos office, noting that the one year the president had just spent in the office was too short to fix the country’s problems.
According to George, mostly for any administration, the first year is spent studying the situation of things met on the ground, maintaining that most of the problems the Tinubu administration was facing were inherited from former President Muhammad Buhari, his predecessor, whom he said made Nigeria situation get worse.
The PDP chieftain, while taking an overview of how Nigeria fared in the last 25 years it had been under civil rule, sadly noted that the nation almost collapsed, saying that many Nigerians would agree that the eight-year era of former President Buhari was probably the worst in country’s history since 1960 when we got our independence.
He said during the the period it was as if nobody was in charge of the country, expressing surprise that some people were still defending that administration.
“The Nigerian state almost collapsed because many Nigerians will agree that that eight-years era was probably the worst in Nigerian history since 1960 when we got our independence. It was as if nobody was in charge of the country.
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“Everything promised before the 2015 General Election was observed in the breach by the Buhari administration. Despite that calamity, it is a pity that some Nigerians have come out to defend that administration, which ruled Nigeria for eight years.
“They are now blaming the Bola Tinubu administration which has just spent about one year in office. Government administration is not a hundred-meter dash race. We will advise and condemn so that in a year’s time, we can assess the methodology and performance of the government,” George said.
Speaking further, George noted that Nigeria was known as the Giant of Africa but said it unfortunately that the political scenario since 1999, when the country returned to democratic rule, was making her the butt of jokes globally, further noted that all patriots were ashamed of what was going on in the country “as the polity is straying towards its elastic limit.”
The PDP chieftain, however, maintained that Tinubu should be given time to prove himself to be capable of fixing Nigeria’s problems, even as he urged for collective determination of the rulers and the ruled “to ensure that Nigeria regains its rightful place in the comity of nations.”
According to him, Nigeria can achieve the dream of a better country and regain its lost glory if the citizens start to redefine their value system, rejig and restructure the various anomalies that presently hinder the greater possibilities of the Nigerian Union.
“It is now over-stressed and over-stretched beyond the bounds of acceptability. Our survival as a nation is genuinely being questioned by all lovers of democracy.
“Violence sprouts everywhere and the country gradually descends into a dangerous gangland where the rule of the bayonet and clubs seems to be the norm.
“If Nigeria is to survive (and I pray this happens very fast), this ruinous course must be reversed immediately.
“And this can only be done through a collective determination of the rulers and the ruled, leaders and the led, that, come what may, this is the only country we have and we must do everything to ensure that Nigeria regains its rightful place in the comity of nations,” he said.
“This is not the time for political actors to be subjective in their thinking and actions because the challenges before us are far beyond the confines of partisan politics.
“The turmoil within the Nigerian entity is about the twisted present situation. It is about who we are. It is about what we ought to be. It is about the greater tomorrow,” he added.
NIGERIAN TRIBUNE