A former aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan and public commentator, Reno Omokri, on Wednesday, said President Bola Tinubu has performed far better than the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, would have done.
Omokri stated during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, that the removal of the fuel subsidy by Tinubu was something Obi had said he would do if he won the presidential election in 2023.
He said, “I still hold that view that the President is by far better than anything Peter Obi would have done. We can go into specifics. What Peter Obi was talking about, that the President mishandled was fuel subsidy and Peter Obi was being clever by half because after that interview, I brought out another interview that he had given — incidentally, that interview was on Channels — where he told the public that if he was elected as President, fuel subsidy would go immediately.
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“So, what did the President do? The President took out the fuel subsidy on day one, immediately. So, would he (Obi) have done it differently?”
Omokri said that the President’s decision received the commendation of renowned financial institutions.
“And if you look at the World Bank, if you look at the IMF, these guys have said what the President did was right. It brought some pain but it was the necessary decision. But let’s assume that the World Bank and IMF maybe they are neocolonialists, so let’s take them aside.
“What about Moody’s, what about Fitch? In the whole world, Fitch is the number one rating agency and Fitch has upgraded Nigeria to a stable B-positive because it said the reforms by the Bola Tinubu administration are working, especially the removal of the subsidy and the floatation of the naira.
“They did that last year, I think that was on December 17, and then so afterward, Moody’s followed and they upgraded Nigeria,” the former presidential aide said.
He also said that the reforms, especially the removal of the subsidy and the floatation of the naira, were working.
Omokri said, “This gentleman met a debt profile for Nigeria of $108 billion. Right now, as I speak with you, our debt is now $94 billion, so $14 billion reduction in our debt. And it is not just with the Federal Government; almost all states have reduced their debt load. Why? Because the federal allocation to the states has increased, in some cases doubled, in some cases tripled.
“So, because of the removal of the fuel subsidy, we are seeing tangible actions. So, I completely disagree with Peter Obi.”
Speaking further, he said that based on Tinubu’s performance, it would be wrong for anybody not to support the President.
“I think it’s wrong for anybody not to support him because Nigeria is our goal, he said.
“Peter Obi, as governor of Anambra, is the only governor in the last 26 years that increased poverty in Anambra. The two governors before him did not increase poverty; the governor after him did not increase poverty, but Peter Obi increased poverty. So, he does not have the moral authority to talk,” Omokri added.
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‘Fuel Subsidy Is Gone’
President Tinubu announced the removal of the fuel subsidy during his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023.
He said the 2023 budget made no provision for fuel subsidy and more so, subsidy payment was no longer justifiable.
“The fuel subsidy is gone,” he said at Eagle Square after he was sworn in as Nigeria’s 16th President.
But days after, Obi faulted the President’s decision, saying that the subsidy was removed without considering the impact on the masses by providing policies that would reduce the burden.
He said, “Recall that even when Jonathan’s government wanted to remove it they came up with various relieving policies like Sure-P and others. If you read my manifesto, you will see clearly how I planned to remove subsidies.
Source: Channels TV
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