Former Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has faulted a planned #EndBadGovernance protest against the President Bola Tinubu administration alleging that the organisers of the rally have sinister motives.
Fayose, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Monday, claimed the planned August hardship protest has political dimensions.
He said Tinubu’s predecessor Muhammadu Buhari was in power for eight years and there was no hunger protest despite the hardship in the country at the time.
Buhari, a former military head of state from Katsina State in North-West Nigeria was Nigeria’s democratically elected President from May 2015 to May 2023. He handed over power to Tinubu, former Lagos governor from the South-West geopolitical zone.
Fayose said, “Hunger didn’t start one day. This hunger started a long time ago. That was why they had a rally at a time and said: ‘Jonathan must go’. (President Goodluck) Jonathan left. That hunger did not stop. Buhari came to power. Buhari spent eight years, nobody said anything. I didn’t remember any rally.
“There is no government that is 100%,” he said, adding that the economic issues confronting Nigeria were from the past administrations.
“Nigeria is a very difficult country to govern. We all know that. If a man is to spend four years, give him a mid-term.
“The little they cannot be sufficient right now for anybody to say we must bring down the government. Because there must be a motive,” the ex-governor stated.
The Buhari administration witnessed some major protests including the #EndSARS protest against police brutality, demonstrations by university lecturers, and pro-Labour rallies, amongst others.
Dangote Refinery at the moment requires 15 cargoes of crude, at a cost of $13.5 billion yearly. NNPC has committed to supply four.
But the FEC has approved that the 450,000 barrels meant for domestic consumption be offered in Naira to Nigerian refineries, using the Dangote refinery as pilot. The exchange rate will be fixed for the duration of this transaction.
Afreximbank and other settlement banks in Nigeria will facilitate the trade between Dangote and NNPC Limited. The game changing intervention will eliminate the need for international letters of credit. It will also save the country of billions of dollars used in importing refined fuel.
