Former Cross River State Governor, Donald Duke, has strongly criticized President Bola Tinubu’s decision to purchase a new presidential jet and yacht during what he describes as one of Nigeria’s worst economic crises since independence.
Duke made these remarks during an appearance on the socio-political program Inside Sources with Laolu Akande aired on Channels Television on Friday.
“There is no glamour in saying your people are going through hard times. It’s a failure of your leadership,” Duke asserted.
He likened Tinubu’s actions to a failure of family leadership, saying, “If I’m the head of a family, I want my family to have everything. I don’t want life to be difficult for them. If life is difficult then I feel I’ve failed to provide for them or do the things I ought to have done. I’d ask him (Tinubu) to see the Nigerian nation as his family. What is good for his family is good for the nation.”
Duke further condemned the purchase, stating, “Buying a new aircraft or yacht or living large is a failure. You can’t have kids who are hungry and you are living lavishly, going to parties and wearing the biggest agbada.”
Reflecting on the recent #EndBadGovernance protests that swept across the nation, Duke pointed to them as evidence of the President’s failure in leadership.
“A protest is like your kids coming to tell you that ‘Daddy, I am not happy with you. You have failed to do this and do that for me,’” he explained, urging Tinubu to rethink his policies and test their impacts on the Nigerian populace.
Duke also criticized the administration’s economic policies, particularly the floating of the Nigerian currency, describing it as a mistake.
“The largest pressure on the Nigerian currency is the importation of fuel, and the way it is being done, it is fuelled by corruption. So, we are paying the price for it,” Duke noted.
In his closing remarks, Duke called on President Tinubu to hold security agencies accountable, reform the judiciary, and address the nation’s economic challenges with local, indigenous solutions, distancing Nigeria from the prescriptions of the Bretton Woods system.