Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State has attacked those who have thrown verbal attacks at President Bola Tinubu over the announced relocation of some departments of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) from Abuja to Lagos.
Uzodimma said the criticisms against the president were either borne out of political mischief or ignorance since that action did not amount to moving the nation’s capital back to Lagos.
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Uzodimma spoke as a guest on Channels Television’s “Sunday Politics”, and urged Nigerians to focus on the economic benefit of the exercise as it would save cost and engender efficient productivity.
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The governor dismissed the claims of some northerners that President Tinubu was planning to move the capital of Nigeria back to Lagos, saying such insinuations were unfounded. “The President lacks the powers to unilaterally effect such a fundamental change,” he said.
“It has been made clear that those departments need to be close to the banks that CBN is supervising which are in Lagos. We also know that Lagos is the hub of the aviation industry. So, I don’t see anything wrong with what the president has done”, he said.
Uzodimma noted that as a former chairman of the Senate committee on aviation, he was aware of the huge resources expended in shuttling between Abuja and Lagos for routine supervision, not to talk of some staff who do that daily.
The governor, however, commended some northern personalities and groups, including the Northern Senators Forum and the Emir of Kano, for supporting the planned relocation of those departments.
He described the exercise as purely administrative and accused the opposition of blowing it out of proportion to score cheap political points.
He described President Tinubu as a first-class patriot and nationalist who would not promote any policy to endanger the unity of Nigeria and urged Nigerians to support the programmes and policies of the president.
Talking about his plan for Imo State during his second tenure, Uzodinmma reiterated that his achievements in the second tenure will dwarf those of the first tenure.
He declared that despite the politically motivated insecurity that tended to distract him during his first term, he was able to achieve more than 75 percent of his electoral promises.
