Economic Policies: Tinubu’s Leadership Style Like A Civilian Dictator – Former Presidential Candidate

The former presidential candidate of the defunct African Renaissance Party (ARP), Alhaji Yahaya Ndu, has criticized President Bola Tinubu‘s administration, accusing him of acting like a civilian dictator.

Ndu, in an interview with SaharaReporters, expressed concern over the government’s economic policies, which he claims have driven Nigerians into severe poverty.

Ndu emphasized that Tinubu has been part of the ruling party’s leadership since 2015 and cannot distance himself from the current challenges facing the nation.

He urged Nigerians not to be misled by claims that the President is only just beginning his term, as he has long been involved in shaping the policies of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

“People say that President Bola Tinubu is just in power a little over a year that he should be giving opportunity to turn things around but when they say this, I get worried because we are supposed to be practising party democracy and his party has been in power since 2015. The President was the leader of APC. So many of the top functionaries of the party were nominated by him, or tutored by him,” Ndu said.

“For instance, an example is the current chief of staff who was then Speaker of the House of Representatives and so on and so forth. In any case, when he came on board, he said he was coming to continue from where Buhari stops.

“The point I am trying to make is that it is dishonest to say that he just met the trouble and he is trying to fix it because he has always been part of the team led by Buhari since 2015,” he added.

Ndu pointed to Tinubu’s statement about continuing from where former President Buhari left off, insisting that it is disingenuous to suggest that Tinubu is a newcomer trying to resolve longstanding issues.

He criticized the notion that Tinubu “just came on board,” arguing that the President has always been involved in decision-making.

Ndu also expressed his doubts about Tinubu’s ability to manage the country’s problems, referencing the President’s refusal to address critical questions during the campaign.

He further remarked on Tinubu’s performance during his campaign, recalling how the President often avoided direct questions and even delegated others to speak on his behalf during his visit to Chatham House.

“In any case even during the electioneering to become president he consistently refused to answer any question. Remember even when he went to Chatham House when questions were put to him, he delegated others around him like El-Rufai to answer the questions for him. During rallies when he was supposed to address people on his programmes, he was holding a broom and dancing,” he stated.

Ndu placed some of the blame on Nigerians for allowing themselves to be misled by the political system.

He pointed out that if the votes of all the major candidates in the 2023 election—Tinubu, Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar, and Rabi’u Kwankwaso—were combined, they would not represent more than 20% of Nigeria’s population.

According to Ndu, true democracy requires widespread participation, which has not been the case in Nigeria.

“So, I am not surprised that things are getting worse under him but I am not blaming him as a person, I am blaming all of us for agreeing to be so fooled not just by him but by the whole political system we are operating.

“If you put all the votes that Tinubu had in the election whether rigged or unrigged and add that one of Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar and Rabi’u Kwankwaso, they don’t come up to 20 per cent of the population of the people of Nigeria; and if you say as for those who voted it is still extremely negligible percentage. Democracy is supposed to be about mass participation,” he said.

To move the country forward, Ndu advocated for a mass participatory approach, encouraging collaboration in sectors such as technology and healthcare.

“The solution to our problems can be found in a mass participatory approach. In other words, if we are trying to involve programmes for technological advancement, you must create a system that will outsource all our engineers, technologists whether at home or in the diaspora to contribute together, to collate and marshal out what should be our technological advancement blueprint likewise for health.

“Our medical doctors, pharmacists, all those in health industry should put heads together.

“This is the process we need to undertake to move this country forward. Nobody should pretend to be more Nigerian than the other. And nobody has any monopoly of knowledge. When all of us come together and work as one, that is only when we can move this country forward,” he said, emphasizing the importance of collective effort and knowledge sharing.

Regarding the removal of the fuel subsidy, Ndu labeled it the worst decision made by the Tinubu administration.

He argued that even if removing the subsidy had merit, it was done improperly and prematurely, without the necessary governmental infrastructure in place.

Ndu said, “To start with, even if it was supposed to be a best decision, it was removed in the wrong way.

“You remember that he removed the fuel subsidy even before he had a cabinet during his swearing-in that more than anything is the most eloquent, graphic explanation that this was a civilian dictatorship.”

Ndu also criticized the government’s approach to illegal refineries, calling for a different strategy. Instead of destroying these operations, he suggested regulating and supporting them to produce refined oil more sustainably.

“If I were in his position, the basics thing my administration would have done is to first of all encourage all those young boys and girls who are operating what our country prefers to call illegal refineries.

“We send our air force, soldiers and navy to destroy to destroy their refineries. My administration would encourage them, regulate their products, make sure that they don’t pollute the environment, help them to get the crude oil at the cheapest possible price and suffocate everywhere with properly refined oil,” he concluded.