Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, has accused President Bola Tinubu of spreading propaganda and placing his own interests above those of the Nigerian nation.
Atiku, in his speech through his media aide Paul Ibe on Sunday, said Tinubu was busy prioritizing the interests of the family before the interests of the people, instead of implementing policies and strategies that would encourage investments.
Speaking about the Lagos-Calabar coastal road project, Atiku said it was a conflict of interest for President Tinubu’s son, Seyi, to be on the board of the company behind the project, adding that the demolition of Landmark Beach without compensation to the owners was a red flag for investors who might consider investing in Nigeria.
Therefore, the former Vice President advised Tinubu and his economic team not to get carried away by propaganda and focus on improving the ease of doing business in the country as it remains a reliable and sustainable method.
Former presidential candidate said: “What’s worse is that this project is currently under construction at a cost of over 13 billion and this project was awarded without bids. All indications are that the Badagry-Sokoto road can only be delivered at a similar cost to taxpayers because Tinubu puts his own interests above the Nigerian people.
“Tinubu has worked all over the world seeking direct investment. He claims to have invested more than $30 billion in various companies, but none of them materialized. Instead, all companies in the industry recorded huge losses, while some left due to the policy of fixing the exchange rate, and the situation is a big mess, says Aliko Dangote at the annual general meeting of the Dangote company.
“In its latest report, the IMF said Nigeria will be the fourth largest economy in Africa after South Africa, Egypt and Algeria by the end of the year; In an embarrassing development for a country that is the largest in Africa, the PDP remained.
“Investors look at how local businesses are treated and won’t go where their investments aren’t protected. By the time of the cleanup, companies like Landmark would have had at least two years to come up with a good plan. But Tinubu’s desire to please his business partners hindered his ability to coordinate the project effectively.
“Lagos-Calabar Road Delivery; environmental impact assessment report has not been completed; The right of way for 700 kilometers of the road project could not be achieved; In the blink of an eye, it transformed from a public-private partnership to a state-sponsored project. While the N500m approved by the National Assembly for the project was ignored, more than N1tn was released by the Tinubu government without the approval of the National Assembly.
“From falsely claiming to have removed subsidies to secretly paying billions monthly based on the revelation of Nasir el-Rufai, the Tinubu administration has shown a lack of coordination and transparency, failing to even explain to Nigerians why there is petrol scarcity across the country.”
