Veteran journalist and former presidential spokesperson, Reuben Abati, has rubbished claims by former Kogi West Senator, Dino Melaye, that President Bola Tinubu’s administration may start taking loans from some of Nigeria’s leading Fintech companies, including Opay and Moniepoint.

In dismissing Melaye’s remarks, Abati submitted that nobody expects the former Senator to praise Tinubu’s government because he belongs to the opposition party.

The journalist added that Fintech money is not the kind of funds the Nigerian government would look at to build capacity.

Abati, while speaking on Arise Television’s Morning Show on Tuesday, said: “Dino Melaye is a chieftain of the ADC, an opposition party, so you do not expect that he would praise the Tinubu administration.

“He is a very articulate and outspoken personality, so he is accusing the president of borrowing. Now let’s look into the details, President Tinubu said ‘we have met revenue projections and are making a lot of money from non-oil and we are not borrowing from Nigerian banks’.

“I’m surprised that Melaye is talking about borrowing from MoniePoint and Opay. I don’t think that is the kind of money the Nigerian government will be looking for in terms of capacity.”

Naijaonpoint reports that Abati’s comments follow earlier remarks by Melaye, who made a mockery of President Bola Tinubu, saying Nigerians will not be surprised if his administration starts borrowing from loan apps.

The remarks come in the wake of intense scrutiny over the Tinubu administration’s borrowing.

However, Abati has dismissed the comments as political.

He also accused Melaye of making sensational and political statements regarding allegations that Tinubu bought a yacht with Nigerian taxpayers’ money and keeps it outside the country.

Abati said the former lawmaker’s observation was incorrect, as it was the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari that raised the idea of a yacht, and the Navy already clarified that the yacht is not for presidential use but for operational purposes by the Navy.

“The other claim that he made that Tinubu has a yacht paid for by Nigerian taxpayers and it’s between Monaco and wherever. That is not true, when this issue of yacht came up, it wasn’t the Tinubu administration that talked about yacht, it was the Buhari’s administration in the 2023 Supplementary budget.

“At that time when the controversy came up and people were saying why yacht for the President? The Navy came forward and said it was a vessel they used for Naval operations that was named Presidential yacht and not for President Tinubu, so it’s not something that was purchased for luxury but you know in politics, you can bring up anything that is sensational,” Abati said.