Tinubu Continues To Policy-Somersault – Farounbi
As He Indicates The President Has Become The Shadow Of His former Self
Due to continue and frequency in changes of policies, Farounbi has expressed his doubt and concern over present administration.
Dr. Yemi Farounbi, Nigeria’s former Ambassador to The Philippines, has indicated that unstable and frequent-changed policies of Tinubu’s administration has impeded businesses various Nigeria to thrive.
He cited major differences between today’s Tinubu and the Tinubu he knew during their days of activism as prominent members of the defunct pro-democracy group, the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO).
The former Ambassador stated that Tinubu is ideologically somersaulting in his own policies because he has swayed from his manifestoes which won him the presidency seat.
President Bola Tinubu, who had previously served as Governor of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007 under the platform of Alliance for Democracy (AD), succeeded his fellow All Progressives Congress member, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and was sworn in as the next Nigeria’s President on 29th May, 2023.
On Friday, Farounbi made this known during a socio-political programme, “Inside Source” with Laolu Akande, on Channels Television. He indicated that the country will continue to face economic challenges if not properly restructured.
He said: “If I have that opportunity, I am going to ask him (Tinubu) to look back at what he was. I am going to ask him to look at the letter he wrote to (former President Goodluck) Jonathan in 2012. I am going to ask him to look at the cases he took to the Supreme Court on local governments. Tinubu Continues To Policy-Somersault – Farounbi
“I am going to ask him why is he ideologically somersaulting. Why is he not appearing as the Tinubu that we knew, why is not the Tinubu that was committed to the restructuring of this country, a Tinubu that was interested in a sovereign national conference, a Tinubu that was committed to true federalism?
“I’m going to ask him what had happened. Can he be true to himself? Let him be himself as he was in the past and I think that a lot of these problems will not be there.
“Of course, I am going to tell him that he promised us a government of national competence and ask him that in the name of all that is good, does he think that he has a government of national competence?
“Does he think that the people that he has assembled are the best in this country? Does he think that he has the competence to deal with all that they have been asked to deal with? Tinubu Continues To Policy-Somersault – Farounbi
“I will ask him to look even at his media; have they been projecting him rightly? What about the contradictions in what he has been saying?
“I will ask him what is happening that there are so frequent policy changes. That doesn’t seem like the Tinubu that I know. It has become even more difficult for anybody to even plan because you are not even sure of when he is going to somersault.
“I will ask him to change his team, to look for the best, those who will help him translate whatever he is doing for the greater good of Nigerians.
“People have been praising him for identifying the best of brains. I will ask him to go into that mold and identify the better brains that are scattered all over Nigeria and help us restructure the economy, help us restructure the country to ensure that his government takes greater care of the common man.
“The him (Tinubu) that I know will confront problems and find solutions to them. It is not him that will go into China and say what can we do? That is not the Tinubu that I know. Tinubu Continues To Policy-Somersault – Farounbi
“Can he please come back to his original mold? Can he bring better people and look at his policy on subsidy?”
However, the ex-Ambassador decried unjust and unkind money-induced political culture and bereaved ideology in the nation’s political system since the inception of the fourth republic (1999)
In his statements, “It wasn’t an ideological replacement; it was a vote-gathering mechanism and the country has not been able to put his best hands forward because of the money politics” and this has interrupted the dreams of many of Nigeria’s founding fathers and patriotic citizens.
“We must demonetise the political system here in Nigeria. We must look at our political recruitment system from councilors to the top in terms of what they are bringing to the table in terms of intellect and competence,” he added.
He emphasised that those who worked with the president during the campaign have not really worked together to pilot the country’s economy into a right directions. Tinubu Continues To Policy-Somersault – Farounbi
Farounbi noted that the idea of any progressive mind is to provide the basic amenities and welfare to the populace−food and jobs.
He advocated that Nigeria should be provided with mental rebirth to become federating units, pointing that the c-existence between the federal and state governments has suddenly become a relationship between patron and client.
“We must strengthen our federating units, they are not just Lilliput in the hands of giants,” he said.
“I am going to ask him to look at the letter he wrote to (former President Goodluck) Jonathan in 2012. I am going to ask him to look at the cases he took to the Supreme Court on local governments.
“I am going to ask him why is he ideologically somersaulting. Why is he not appearing as the Tinubu that we knew, why is not the Tinubu that was committed to the restructuring of this country.
“Of course, I am going to tell him that he promised us a government of national competence and ask him that in the name of all that is good, does he think that he has a government of national competence? Does he think that the people that he has assembled are the best in this country?
“I will ask him to look even at his media; have they been projecting him rightly? What about the contradictions in what he has been saying?
“I will ask him what is happening that there are so frequent policy changes. It has become even more difficult for anybody to even plan because you are not even sure of when he is going to somersault.
Tinubu Continues To Policy-Somersault – Farounbi