From Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, came a damning verdict on Bola Tinubu, Nigerian President, whom he scored complete zero on his handling of affairs in the country, particularly the security of Nigeria under such demonstrable siege that even Donald Trump, the US President, is currently looking in the direction of the country as a point of target.
Not even the President’s marshal plan in terms of state of emergency on security unveiled on Tuesday, seemed to persuade the Vice Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election that Tinubu might be hitting the bull’s eyes, as the foremost educationist and founder of the Baze University, Abuja, dismissed it as a non-event, insisting that he has missed the road.
A guest of Prime Time, a public affairs programme on ARISE NEWS Television, the fiery critic, who once asked that Tinubu and Vice President, Kashim Shettima, must not be sworn in, ahead of their court victories to validate their election, maintained that everything the government of the duo had done was akin to groping in the dark.
For instance, Datti-Ahmed, who confirmed that he was outraged by the massive targeting of schools by terrorists in various parts of the country, leading to the kidnapping of school children, explained that Tinubu misfired by directing that proprietors should stop building schools in remote areas of the country, insisting that such a suggestion should be withdrawn immediately.
Regarding the security marshal plan, including recruitment of more security personnel, crash training, clearance of notorious hideouts like the Sambisa Forest, state police and the ending of open grazing, which his host highlighted during the engagement, he simply retorted dismissively, if not derisively – zero!
He went further on the President, saying: “He has missed the point. Let me mention that there is a call to stop building schools in the rural areas. Now, that is deadly. That is wrong. I wish Uncle Tinubu can hear this very quickly and among the entire list, withdraw that one and please correct it. He should encourage people to build. If I have money, I’ll build in rural areas. It is wrong. Let him quickly remove that point because in this sense, attack is the best form of defence.
“We in the educational world, we’re fighting a war on behalf of the country that people don’t realise. It is as good as what the armed forces are doing. So, for the Commander-in-Chief to say stop building in rural areas – whether he used the term remote or unpopulated areas, I’m not contradicting the Commander-in-Chief – but he has said something very wrong.
“Now, let me come to what matters. We as a nation have transited from the military era when we had too much security and too little intelligence to an era – the so-called democratic one, where we have too much intelligence and too little security. The Commander-in-Chief is saying crash-programme. Again, this is a wrong – completely missing the point. You want the best of experts to handle this matter and yet thinking of numbers.
“It is not about numbers. It is about reducing corruption in the war against insecurity itself. The entire amount budgeted for security in this current budget, how much of that is actually going into the war? How much is going into the 2027 election? How much is going into private pockets? That is the problem. Once you remove that, Nigeria will become secure.
“It is not about numbers, because, remove the Nigerian Armed Forces, the Nigerian police alone can wipe out insecurity and banditry in two months. Remove that corruption, remove political interest. Give them all the support they want and they will do it. So, I’m sorry, Mr. President, has missed it. It’s not about the numbers.”