President Bola Tinubu’s presentation of the 2025 budget to the National Assembly has been criticized by TAF Africa’s Chief Executive Officer, Jake Epelle, who claims that the president has placed himself on the wrong side of history.
Epelle, who spoke on the morning show of Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Friday, claimed that Tinubu’s presentation of a state budget was the first time a sitting president had presented one. Epelle criticized the move as unsettling.
He continued, “The President has made history, but this time it was on the wrong side of history.”
READ MORE: Tinubu Submits $1.48 billion in 2025 Rivers Budget to NASS For Approval.
Because this is the first time a sitting President has presented the budget of a state as a result of the constitutional vacuum created by this emergency rule, “this unprecedented move is very worrying.”
He argued that this action was “executive overreach,” noting that it had no legal or democratic justification.
Epelle made it clear that the initial plan was to request the budget be presented solely by the administrator, but that the legality of the process was stymied by the media.
They initially planned to pressure the so-called sole administrator to do this, but when we called upon them to check the legality of a non-elected official overthrowing an elected official, he explained, “they were going to push the so-called sole administrator to do this.”
Epelle questioned the legitimacy of any procedure that allows an unelected official to control a state’s resources.
Anyone who wants to believe that it is justified has a lot to say about the principles of democracy and how to ensure that an elected official would run a state that elected him, he said.
He added that Tinubu’s behavior violated democratic principles, despite its historical significance.
The President has made history, as I previously stated, but I believe that by presenting this budget, he is going against the grain.
Who will manage this, exactly? The taxpayers’ money will be spent on a person who isn’t elected by the people. He lamented that this is where we are and that Rivers State’s brave citizens are carrying it.
Rivers ₦1.481tn Budget
Following the state’s House of Assembly being suspended, President Tinubu handed the 2025 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly for consideration on Thursday.
The proposed budget, which includes $1.481 trillion, contains significant funding for revitalizing key sectors, according to a letter from Senator Goodwill Akpabio, the president of the Senate.
READ MORE: Senate Sets Up Committee to Oversee Rivers Administrator
With the intention of creating approximately 6, 000 new jobs, the budget, according to the proposal, focuses on strategic investments in infrastructure, healthcare, education, and agriculture.
President Tinubu requested an expedite review in a formal letter to the Senate.
The Senate sent the proposal to its Ad-hoc Committee on Emergency Rule with instructions to review it and submit a report back to the chamber as soon as possible.
Additionally, Tinubu contacted the House of Representatives to request the Rivers State budget’s approval, letting them know that the Supreme Court had rejected the 2025 budget presented by suspended governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Following months of political hostility between the Rivers State House of Assembly and the Federal Capital Territory’s Minister, Nyesom Wike, the president declared a state of emergency in the state on March 18, 2025.
For a full six months, the President suspended Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, and the House of Assembly.
Additionally, he recommended Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas (rtd) for the first six months as the state’s administrator.
Tinubu said he could not continue to watch the state’s political situation escalate without taking any action, despite pointing out Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution.
Source: Channels TV
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