Oshiomole: Nigeria Economy: Tinubu can’t fix it in two years as he describes Atiku as best ‘defection’ writer
Adams Oshiomole, former Governor of Edo State and Current Senator representing Edo North Senatorial District, known for his ‘blame game’ against previous leader.
Recalling, Oshiomole, during the Buhari’s administration, blamed the predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, for Nigeria’s economic woes.
In 2015, almost two months after former President Goodluck Jonathan left office and handed over power to then-incoming President, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s economy dwindled, which occasioned the country’s still-lingering economic crisis.
Oshiomole, who was still an active Governor of Edo State, blamed the economic crisis on the previous administration, describing it “recklessness of Jonathan’s administration.
In July, 2015, while in an interview with Sunrise Daily, a breakfast programme on Channels Television, Oshiomole said: “The crisis we have at the moment is not a flash; it’s going to be here for some time.
“I feel what has happened is that at the peak of the oil boom, prices were high and people made projections and budgets were drawn up on the basis of those numbers and along the line there was a sharp drop.”
He stressed that disclosure of financial mismanagement of Jonathan’s administration had become visible to see, adding that Buhari had made reviving efforts to resuscitate the economy and correct the mistakes and errors of his predecessor.
“After Jonathan Comes Buhari.”
Oshiomole, now a Senator, has again launched a scattering attack on the overwhelming hardship in the country, and also attributed the blame on the former president, Muhammadu Buhari, who handed over power to the incumbent president about two years ago.
Many Nigerians are airing their voices, most specifically, the experts, who have nailed some of the policies implemented by President Bola Tinubu-led administration.
Many describes his policies as ‘anti-human’ and said that they are the major factors responsible for the hardship in the country, especially the removal of fuel subsidy, which tripled the pump price of fuel across the country.
However, Oshiomole said that blames should be apportioned to President Tinubu for any decisions made by the previous governments which have plunged the country into economic crisis.
Nigeria Economy: Tinubu Can’t Fix It In Two Years – Oshiomole
Defection: Atiku Will Be The Best Writer
Amidst ongoing and constant defection of politician from one party to another, two-termed governor of Edo States, Adams Oshiomole, had described Atiku Abubakar as the best person to write on ‘why people decamp.’
Senator Adams Oshiomole, has illuminated dark areas hovering over defection of politicians in Nigeria as he pointed to Atiku, who decamps from one party to another in search of power.
According to the Edo-born politician, the best person to write best-selling book on why people decamp from their parties to others should be Atiku.
Recalling, the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has been decamping from one party to another in a bid to realise his presidential ambition.
The most notable one was in 2015 when he left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015, betraying his own party members and majorly, the then-incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, but only to lose the APC’s Presidential Primary Election to Muhammadu Buhari−who eventually emerged as the president after ousting the incumbent President Jonathan.
2027 elections are around the corner, the politicians have started looking for which platform will be best suited for their political ambition.
Atiku, again, has joint a coalition with other prominent politicians, like Nasir El-Rufai, in a bid to wrestle power from the ruling party.
Meanwhile, Oshiomole noted that the former president and 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, (PDP), decamped from the party as a sitting vice president.
Oshiomole, in an interview on Channels Television, while reacting to fielded questions on mass defection of other-parties politicians to APC.
“I’m speaking to you as somebody who has been governor, who knows that this is a possibility, that they can win election without joining the APC, absolutely, he said.
“I ran my election as opposition, two times. In 2007, the PDP rigged me out. I went to court. I fought them and I won.
“And in 2012 I went for a rerun, and I won. So I understand the meaning of opposition. The point is, if you are in a place, even the Nigerian constitution recognizes, if your party is in tatters, the time you should have spent on state matters, you are spending the time on party matters, rather [move].
“But let me remind you that those who started defection, the man the most popular one in the history of Nigeria, is His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, when as a sitting Vice president of Nigeria he decamped from PDP to ACN, which is now part of APC.
“Was he coerced by ACN that were then led by Bola Tinubu, a non-state person as of that time?
“So that we had to settle all this argument about whether there is cohesion or no cohesion, was Atiku Abubakar coerced by Tinubu to come and join ACN?
“I was governor in ACN; so I am familiar with the issue in the ACN. Atiku left Obasanjo in PDP to come and pick our ticket and run as president.
“Now, did we force him or coerce him to leave our party and return back to PDP to go and contest with, I believe Jonathan, and when he lost, with Jonathan as president, did we have the instrument to coerce him to return to the APC to contest the primaries against general Buhari, who later became the president and now former president?
“I think the best person who can write a book on why people decamp should be the former vice president. It will be nice to ask him, as a sitting vice president, you left your party.”
Nigeria Economy: Tinubu Can’t Fix It In Two Years – Oshiomole