Arise TV journalist and former media aide to the president, Reuben Abati, has raised questions regarding the professional occupations of President Bola Tinubu’s sons, Seyi and Yinka.
Abati, who served as a media aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, voiced his concerns on Wednesday during Arise TV’s “The Morning Show,” which he co-anchors with fellow journalists Oseni Rufai and others.
Expressing his views, Abati remarked, “May we begin to ask, What do the president’s children do for a living? I don’t know specifically how old they are but looking at them, by the time I was their age, I was doing something concrete with my life. I got a PhD at 24. I wasn’t depending on any father.”
He criticized Tinubu for including Yinka and Seyi in his team during a recent visit to Qatar and for granting them diplomatic precedence over his ministers.
Abati questioned, “What I am saying is that first Nigerians complain that they should not have been on that list, the issue raised there is that yes if their father is paying for them to be there, fine. I also raised the question if they have relevant qualifications, if they are business people in their own rights, they can bring investment and they will make contributions.”
He further elaborated, “Then you will say they have a reason to be there. What I found disturbing in that video that we just showed, we just showed the order of protocol, I spent four years studying diplomacy. They were coming on the order of protocol before the minister of the Federal Republic, what are their roles there that they will be put before the minister?”
Abati emphasized the need for individuals to establish themselves independently, stating, “People must get to a stage in their lives when they will hold themselves together, I don’t want adults behaving like invalids hanging around just because your father is in a position.”
He added, “All these children of privilege sometimes overdo it, and these are boys that would probably have wives at home. Some of these girls, what they go through is very embarrassing. You can’t have a husband that’s just hanging around, that cannot stand on his two feet as a man.”
