The National Publicity Secretary of the All Democratic Alliance (ADA), Hon Leye Igbabo has taken a swipe at President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, accusing him of hypocrisy and wilful attempt to shift his administration’s failure from public scrutiny.
It would be recalled that the President during his recent meeting with the media executive chiefs, begged them to shift attention to the state governors and Local Governments which resources have been enormously increased due to his administration’s numerous economic reforms.
But the ADA’s National Publicity Secretary at a programme “AM Cafe” on Viral 98.5 FM Radio Station, described the President’s statement as utterly hypocritical and manipulative in nature, saying that the President deliberately overlooked the fact the the Local Governments have not enjoyed the fruits of the Local Government autonomy verdict granted it by the Nigeria’s highest court in the land.
“The President in his wisdom took the local government autonomy issue to court and the Supreme Court granted that LGs should be taking their funds directly from the federation account.
Is the President not aware that the judgment was never obeyed? Where then did he expect the LGs to get funds that can be scrutinized by the media?
Or how does he expect the media to put attention on a tier of government that has become moribund? This to me, is an act of utter hypocrisy on the part of the President. It also amounts to mockery of the already incapacitated third tier of government” Hon Leye Igbabo fumed.
On the President’s plea to the media that they concentrate on the state governors who according to him, have more than enough resources to work with, Hon Leye Igbabo described the plea as manipulative and evasive insisting that the President was trying to shield his failed administration from responsibility and accountability.
The ADA’s image maker said while he agreed that state governments’ resources have increased geometrically, he challenged the President to lead by example, insisting that the President has not provided the exemplary leadership that can be envied by the governors.
“For goodness sake, what good examples has Mr President provided to challenge the Governors’ attitude to good governance? We have so many senior government officials at the federal level who have been accused of corruption, embezzlement and all manners of misappropriations. The best we have seen from the Federal Government is to relieve them of their posts after stringent public outcries and nothing is ever heard of them thereafter. No more prosecution, no transparency in governance.”
“For the citizens to effectively hold the government accountable, the institutions of governance must be strengthened. As it is now, under the present administration, the institutions of governance are under attack. They are being weakened and so, there is no efficient system to sustain citizens’ efforts at demanding accountability.”
“President Tinubu while begging for the job, said he would confront security headlong and the insecurity would be a thing of the past. What we witness today is that the government is in bed with the same terrorists, failing woefully to make any remarkable difference except that the insecurity grew worse.”
“He promised to make electricity available but what can we say on the status of the electricity supply today? Higher tariff with little or no electricity.
We only hear very very amazing, mouth-watering and ear-itching data on how the economy has improved yet more than 130 million Nigerians live below the poverty line. They have been sunk and terribly dehumanized.
So why would the President beg that attention be shifted away from being held accountable? This is most unpatriotic call of all.
The National Publicity Secretary however appealed to the media never to abandon their duties as the fourth estate of the realm saying that such duties were conspicuously placed on their laps by the constitution.
“The truth of the matter is that the media seems to be abandoning their core duties to pursue PR for any politicians who can pay the bills. They don’t seem to place much emphasis on the duties which the constitution places on their laps as the fourth estate of the realm. So many journalists today now pursue PR for those who can pay their bills.”
“I understand that they are running their businesses and the need for such businesses to remain ongoing but they have to strike a reasonable balance between going on with their businesses and performing their duties as placed upon them by the constitution. If they need to effectively and admirably carry out such duties, then they need to lean more on the side of the opposition rather than wine and dine with the oppressors” Hon Leye Igbabo concluded.
