Rivers APC Chieftain, Sylva’s Ex-Aide Query Tinubu Over ‘Empty, Disappointing’ Broadcast

More Nigerians have continued to express disappointment and displeasure over Sunday’s broadcast read by President Bola Tinubu, which came three days after Nigerians went into the streets to protest bad governance and hardship currently being experienced in the country.

Hours after the broadcast, a chieftain of the APC in Rivers State, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze as well as a former aide of Chief Timipre Sylva, Jonah Okah said Tinubu’s broadcast was empty and unappealing. They said in separate reactions on Whatsapp, that the president did not make any sense in his address to the nation.

Eze’s reaction came in the form of a note to the president. He said “it is sad and unfortunate that it took you this long before finding it necessary to address a nation that was on fire all the same thanks for your time.

“After going through your speech detailing what you feel are your achievements and feats, I find it difficult why you could not utilise this golden opportunity to address the core issues that necessitated this nationwide protest.”

Eze, who used to the spokesman of the defunct nPDP (New PDP) said Tinubu was a disappointment to the APC, a party he said he fought alongside others, to bring up. According to him, Tinubu had so far made the country a laughing stock through his anti-people policies.

 “Mr. President Sir, this is not the vision of the APC most of us risked our lives to install in Nigeria. We never brought APC to visit Nigeria and Nigerians with the level of hunger pervading our nation warranting most of people to resort to committing suicide as a way out. We didn’t bring APC to visit Nigeria and Nigerians with the level of insecurity currently pervading our nation where it becomes suicidal either to farm or bring out the products of our farm.

“We never envisaged that our common effort to bring APC in order to make our nation a laughing stock before the international community where most countries now advise their citizens to be wary of traveling to Nigeria.

As one of those that contributed in selling APC to Nigerians as the spokesperson of nPDP and a member of APC Media Legacy Project Committee, I must State that what you are currently supervising is not the vision of APC we all visited Nigeria with.”

Eze, an ally of the former Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi chastised Tinubu for missing a golden opportunity to address Nigerians on his plans to end the era of hunger and suffering in the country.

Hear him: “On the issue that brought up the nationwide protest, Mr. President it is sad that you missed the opportunity to tell Nigerians on how you intend to cut down the high cost of governance that seems you and your core Aides enjoy while most Nigerians are dying in poverty. Please, revisit this issue and save this nation

“Your address didn’t address the issue of insecurity that prevents Nigerians from farming and causing most of these farmers to be camped in settlement areas instead of operating from their homes. The issue of corruption that is becoming so pronounced in your administration and misuse of our common patrimony through unprogressive and worthless ventures like the type of cars purchased for the National Assembly members while Nigerians are not sure of their next meal. What is the value of spending over 20billion Naira to build a house for the vice president considering what we are currently going on.

“Instead of reducing the number of Ministries you are rather increasing the number of ministries and appointing unwarranted number of ministers. You failed to address the high level of corruption in the Oil Sector and the need of sanitizing the sector by sacking the MD of NNPC and adopting Dangote Refinery and other strategies adopted Nigerians to refine our crude oil if we prefer to continue to sabotage the operations of our Refineries at Port Harcourt, Kaduna, Warri.

“Aas a way to bring sanity to our nation, you may have to form a government of national unity and find a way to reconcile most of those that contested the Presidency with you both in APC and outside the party.”

On his part, Okah queried the president for failing to address the concerns of Nigerians in his broadcast. He said  “there’s nothing inspiring about Mr. President’s speech. He rather spoke with arrogance and keep dwelling on his failed policies and programmes without addressing the hard reality of poverty and hunger starring at the faces of Nigerians.

“In other climes this speech which has aggravated our anger, he would have seen more protest thronging the Vila.  It would have been better for Mr. President to keep quite.  Sometimes I wonder if it is the Tinubu we know for his progressive mold or he has been cloned.

“There are many thoughts and theories streaming in my mind. Why didn’t he talk about reducing cost of governance with his over bloated cabinet? Why didn’t he talk about reducing high cost of education, non accessibility to basic health care, provocative interest rate, primitive taxation, the virtually zero level Foreign Direct Investment, FDI,  short term measures to address the pangs of pains of the soaring high cost of living and  the increasing cost of Petroleum products that have directly impacted negatively on  Transportation as well as  on the ordinary Nigerians.”

 The speech was quite unpresidential, worse than even a ministerial briefing with a plummeting insensitivity to the reality of the plight of Nigerians. Measuring the government with the standard principle of Hedonism, the damning verdict is that President Tinubu administration should be consigned to the waste bin of history. 

“He has been part of the APC administration which came on the mantra of change and Renewed Hope.  He has no excuse to extricate himself from the APC big gamble to power. In other climes, the party in power that is assessed based on its performance indices, not an individual.  So some apostles of the Renewed Hope Agenda would say he is only one year in office.  This is inexcusable. The indicators are frightening. The speech is therefore unexciting.”