Bode George, former Deputy National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has criticised the N7 billion budgeted to renovate the official residences of the President, Bola Tinubu and the Vice President, Kassim Shettima, in Lagos State.
N12.2 trillion supplementary budget was approved by the National Assembly and signed into law by the President, part of which N7 billion is for the renovation of the official residences of the President and the Vice.
The development has attracted criticism across the country and comes at a time when there is nationwide hardship due to some policies of the current administration.
But George said there was no justification for spending such huge amount of money on renovation when the administration’s policies had made Nigerians poorer.
The PDP chieftain stated this during an interaction with journalists at his office in Ikoyi on Thursday.
He faulted the economy advisers of the President, saying that such money could have been used to provide other essential needs of Nigerians, especially infrastructures and support for the education sector.
“It is sad, and you wonder what the priority is; all these are happening with the high poverty among Nigerians. I have never seen people suffer like this before in this country.
“I don’t know the voodoo economists in the villa now that can’t tell the President the truth”, George said.
He noted that now that the election is over, his party should ensure they play the role of strong opposition through constructive criticism to whip President Tinubu and his party in line and move Nigeria forward.
Read also Tinubu signs 2023 Supplementary Budget into law
Speaking further, the PDP Chieftain enjoined the leadership of his party to look inward to examine what went wrong that made it perform below average in the last general election in the country, warning that the party should avoid situations that would make it go into oblivion like the defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP).
Bode George warned that any attempt to sweep the problem under the rug would spell doom for the party, noting that this was not the right time for anybody to be scheming for positions in the party as, according to him, there must be a solution to the challenges facing the PDP first.
According to Bode George, “I want to appeal to you; it is not a matter of joining his party; we must have a solid opposition to put them, the APC members, on their toes, and as long as I live, in the next four years, that will be the role we are going to play.
“And it is good for them because if everybody is telling the APC and the president that what you are doing is fantastic, sir, you know the noisemakers there who are saying what the president is doing is fine, they will be the first to condemn the president when he is out of office.
“The president is not a young man; he knows whether people are polishing him and pretending that he is the best fellow. He should watch his back.
“What I owe President Bola Tinubu now is to forget about the differences between us; this nation must grow, and when we are in opposition, we must keep them on their toes for the good of our nation. That is the responsibility that I foresee as an opposition party,” he added.
“It is human to make mistakes; when it happens like this, that we got an uppercut in the struggle for Nigeria, yes, the most sensible thing to do is to go back and do an in-depth analysis of what we did wrong and what we did right, and then clean up the mess and reposition the party for the future.
“There should be no short approach; sweeping everything under the carpet is a foolish way to do it”.
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