Social Democratic Party (SDP), Presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Adewole Adebayo, has claimed President Bola Tinubu is focused on consolidating authority rather than implementing policies that address the country’s challenges.
Naija News reports that Adebayo, while speaking with journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, said Tinubu is in power and not in government.
While acknowledging some progress in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the Ministry of Interior, the former presidential candidate argued that these exceptions do not reflect broader governmental success.
He said: “I don’t agree because he is not in government, he is only in power, he is not using the power to govern. He is using the power for other things, so he is not able to know what it means to say the government is doing well.
“But in FCT for example, that is one area you can say you see a sign that they want to govern, the Minister, and the minister of Interior, I think the two ministers are making serious attempts to govern, outside that, I’m sorry, there is no sign that they want to govern”.
Adebayo commended the last presidential media chat and urged Tinubu to engage more with the masses to learn their feelings about his administration.
He said the discussions on the media chat should come with more substance, disagreeing with Tinubu’s claim that his administration is performing well.
He said, “The presidential media chat should be routine, the media must hold the president accountable instead of treating such occasions as ceremonial events. What he said on that day, many of which I disagree with, if that is what he has to say in several months, almost one and a half years, I’m not impressed with that.
“The President should answer questions on a day-to-day basis, to convince the people that he understands what he is doing; understands the philosophy behind his actions, he knows the implications and he has a kind of vision on what he wants to do, and I assume that the media will not go there like Christmas guests, who are being polite to their host, they should go there and do their own job too.”