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By Myke Agunwa, Abuja
The Presidency has described the coalition of forces plotting to unseat President Bola Tinubu in 2027 as power-hungry and irrelevant politicians.
Recall that former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai, had at a media interaction on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, alleged that the government is paying bandits to dissuade them from killing Nigerians. He argued that bandits should be killed rather than engaged in negotiation.
Similarly, former Governors of Rivers and Anambra States, Rotimi Amaechi and Peter Obi, have openly criticized Tinubu’s administration. Amaechi faulted Tinubu’s economic policies, saying they worsened poverty and insecurity, and urged opposition forces to unite to rescue Nigeria. Obi, on his part, warned that Tinubu’s policies are deepening poverty and unemployment, and cautioned against Nigeria sliding into a one-party state, urging the opposition to unite and rescue the country from misrule.
In a counter move, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, described the politicians ganging up against Tinubu as a coalition of spent forces.
In a a Facebook update on his page on Monday, Onanuga said El-Rufai had earlier admitted that four years was inadequate to turn around the economy, yet he wants Tinubu to perform the impossible.
He wrote, “Nasir El-Rufai confesses in a viral video that four years is not enough for a political office holder to make ‘meaningful changes’. Yet he is at the forefront of the gang of political desperados plotting President Tinubu’s ouster, just two years into his tenure. What a contradiction!”
Onanuga went further to describe Obi and Amaechi as political laggards and underachievers. He said that many indicators show that Tinubu is on the right path.
According to him, “The positive indicators are all there for the world to see—for example, increased foreign reserves, the highest in 44 months. Phenomenal wealth creation in the stock market has seen ASI skyrocket from 53,000 points to over 140,000 points. Over N26 trillion in additional wealth has been created in the market under Tinubu’s watch.
“The exchange rate has been harmonized, and arbitrage eliminated. Investment inflow has increased. The inflation rate has decreased in four successive months. GDP has grown by N103.5 trillion in two years, and it is still growing. Balance of payment surplus is being recorded quarter after quarter. Indigent students are being supported by a revolutionary loan policy, using NELFUND as the vehicle. Vulnerable Nigerians are receiving cash from the Humanitarian Ministry.
“National revenue has increased phenomenally, and the record is expected to be broken again this year and possibly next year, when the revolutionary tax reform is implemented. States and local councils are receiving more funding from the centre, enabling them to undertake capital projects and create additional jobs. The governors said they have never had it so good.”
He prayed that the “power-hungry, politically displaced and irrelevant” politicians should not be allowed to truncate the achievements of Tinubu in 2027.