Barely 154 days after taking office, there is growing discontent in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s camp, especially among his close allies and party elders, with his style of governance and some of his policy decisions.
According to published findings, the situation has become more precarious with the alleged inability of his allies and party elders unable to have access to the President, advise him on their observations or even register their displeasures with some of his actions and inactions.
This development has led to insinuations that President Tinubu might be going through a similar scenario as his predecessor, former President Muhammadu Buhari, whose government was allegedly hijacked by a cabal, which controlled access to him.
The long list of disenchanted stakeholders includes, All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders, especially from the South-West and North-West, Muslim stakeholders and Yoruba stakeholders, including elders and young professionals, as well as traditional rulers, who say a series of policies introduced by President Tinubu since assuming office have left Nigerians facing varying degrees of economic hardships.
Recall that only a few days ago, the apex Yoruba socio-cultural body, Afenifere, called the Government’s attention to the state of insecurity across the country, urging that something be done to stem the ugly development. Feelers from the President’s allies have it that they believe there is a compelling need for him to cautiously begin to look inward with a view to engaging with the people and assuaging their pains.
Within the political circle, especially among members of the ruling APC and regional stakeholders, there are deep-seated grievances that President Tinubu’s appointments have been lopsided and largely in favour of the South-West geo-political zone.
Leaders of the party, especially from South-West and North-West, are said to be currently unhappy that their political interests have not been taken into consideration in all the appointments made so far by him, such that some of them have decided to remain silent and keep their distance from the Presidency.
According to the findings, some of the political blocs said to be discontented with Tinubu’s style of appointment from the South-West and North-West Muslim stakeholders in the ruling party allege being short-changed in spite of their votes giving Tinubu victory in the presidential poll.
Specifically, there are concerns within the APC that President Tinubu might have abandoned some of the party elders, who are known to be his allies since 1999, and other party adherents who went to the trenches with him during the presidential primary election and campaigns.
Making further allusions to a new cabal in Aso Villa, which determines who gets what and who sees the President, party sources close to the Presidency lamented that this situation might be more devastating to governance than what operated under the immediate past administration.
The President of Yoruba Ronu Leadership Forum, Akin Malaolu, is of the opinion that the economy today has exposed Tinubu administration’s inability to handle the mess. He said: “We have studied his economic policies, his grandstanding; and we have been proven right, after critical assessments done, that both President Tinubu and his advisers are ignorant of the processes they are driving.
Yoruba Ronu added that the main focus of productivity is industrialisation, putting money into the private sector, creating foundries and starting machine tools factories to assist industrialisation and employment.
