• PRP chairman says insecurity, hunger worsening
•Faults economic reforms, argues tough decisions hurting Nigerians
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
The National Chairman of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, yesterday described President Bola Tinubu as a failure, arguing that worsening insecurity and economic hardship have left the administration with little to show Nigerians ahead of the 2027 general election.
Baba-Ahmed, who spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today, also questioned Tinubu’s reported plan to limit his campaign appearances, insisting that the president should personally meet Nigerians to explain his policies and the hardship they have endured since he assumed office in May 2023.
“Tinubu inherited Nigeria, but what has he done with it? He inherited a poor country; he inherited weak institutions; he inherited poverty and insecurity. We don’t blame him, but he’s been in power for three and a half years. He is a failure,” he said.
The PRP chairman challenged the president to explain why Nigerians were experiencing greater hardship despite the administration’s economic reforms and repeated claims of progress, arguing that the effects of government policies on ordinary citizens could not be dismissed with economic statistics.
“Why doesn’t Tinubu commit himself to say, I will. I have the energy, I have the intention, I want to see Nigerians, I want Nigerians to see me, I want them to hear me explain why they are more hungry,” Baba-Ahmed said.
Asked about the president’s reported intention to campaign in only a few locations, he replied: “Yes, he has nothing to say to them, I’m telling you, he has nothing to say to Nigerians.”
He further questioned the administration’s decision to leave campaign activities to its representatives, saying the president could not justify staying in Abuja to govern when, in his view, the government had failed to address the country’s challenges over the past three and a half years.
“The reason why he said, go, gentlemen, go and campaign for me. I will stay here in Abuja and run the country. You’re running the country now? For three and a half years, you didn’t run the country, now you remember that you are here to run the country?” he said.
Baba-Ahmed also criticised the administration’s economic policies, arguing that difficult decisions were not necessarily good decisions, particularly when their immediate consequences included higher living costs and deeper poverty.
“He (Tinubu) made some tough decisions but they were anti-people decisions, a tough decision doesn’t have to be a good decision,” he said.
He questioned the reach and effectiveness of the government’s intervention programmes, particularly loans, against the backdrop of children unable to attend school because of insecurity in parts of the country.
“You talk about creating loans, that’s good, but do you know how many millions of children that can’t go to school under Tinubu’s watch in this country? Children who live in territories taken over by bandits, kidnappers, and who can’t go to school at all?” he asked.
On security, the PRP chairman alleged that the situation had deteriorated under the current administration, while dismissing the government’s presentation of economic indicators as inadequate evidence that Nigerians were better off.
“Security has gotten considerably worse, it has never been worse like this. All these things you mentioned, this is the propaganda. Unfortunately, for Tinubu, Nigerians are not going to buy it. Children are not going to school, life is more insecure, life is harder,” he added.
Baba-Ahmed argued that the president’s appeal for another four-year term would rest on a promise that current economic difficulties would eventually ease, rather than an admission that the reforms had already improved living conditions.
He also questioned the sequencing of the policies, saying the government ought to have considered their immediate effects on households before implementation.
“A thinking president will say let me do one or two things first, because I will impoverish people and the cost of transportation is vital and central to everything,” he said.
Also, Baba-Ahmed said Nigeria had failed to learn the necessary lessons from the #EndSARS protests, six years after young people took to the streets in 2020 to demand an end to police brutality and better governance.
He argued that disbanding the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) had not resolved the underlying problems of police misconduct, lack of accountability and poor governance.
According to him, the judicial panels established after the protests raised expectations that those responsible for abuses would be held accountable and victims compensated, but their recommendations had not been fully implemented.
He cited the use of tear gas against youths marking the sixth anniversary of the protests at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos yesterday as evidence, in his view, that little had changed.
“We have not shown our young people that protesting for good governance is not a crime. Until justice is served for those who died at Lekki and compensation is paid, the wound will remain,” Baba-Ahmed said.