The Senator representing the Ogun West Senatorial District, Solomon Adeola, has refuted claims that former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration borrowed $400 billion to stabilise the naira.
He stated that he was misquoted during an event in Ayetoro, Ogun State, on Saturday.
Naijaonpoint reports that in a statement released on Monday by his Special Adviser on Media, Kayode Odunaro, Adeola clarified that the report, which appeared in several major newspapers and online platforms, misrepresented his remarks made in Yoruba during a town hall meeting with his constituents.
He stressed that the removal of the fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu and the floating of the exchange rate are essential measures, asserting that without these fiscal policies, the Nigerian economy was at risk of collapse.
He said: “The previous administrations have been spending trillions of naira on fuel subsidy and defending the naira against the dollar, this was to the benefit of a very negligible number of Nigerians, while Nigeria accumulated huge national debt.
“At no point did the Senator mention the name of the former President Buhari or make specific reference to his administration as having incurred a debt of $400 billion. It is therefore clear that the debt figure attributed to former President Buhari’s administration is a misquotation from reporters’ translation of the senator’s speech from Yoruba to the English language.”
The statement indicated that the misquotation likely occurred due to the transcription process from Yoruba to English, noting that many journalists from the publications that released the report were absent from the town hall meeting.
Adeola expressed his respect for former President Buhari and recognised his commendable efforts in managing the economy, given the challenges he faced during his administration.