Former presidential aide Reno Omokri praised President Bola Tinubu for making remarkable progress in his 22 months in office, pointing out that Nigerians’ lives have improved since he assumed office.

Omokri also commended former President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent declaration of loyalty to the ruling All Progressives Congress, saying it contradicted former Kaduna State governor Nasir el-Rufai’s claim that his recent defection to the Social Democratic Party had the former president’s blessing.

The former governor, who defected from the APC last week, claimed that he got the nod of the erstwhile president to make his move. However, Buhari’s media aide, Mallam Garba Shehu, said the former president remained loyal to the ruling party.

“My impression of General Muhammadu Buhari changed for the better after he released his statement restating his loyalty and commitment to the All-Progressives Congress, discountenancing Nadir el-Rufai, who had tried to use clever rhetoric to project the illusion that the former president was tacitly behind his move to the Social Democratic Party,” Omokri said in a statement.

He said the former president’s retention of loyalty to his party acknowledged the significant strides being made by his successor.

Omokri said Tinubu was taking Nigeria out of the woods, listing the president’s landmarks, “The Sokoto-Badagry Highway has reached Kebbi from Sokoto State and is progressing daily. The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is now approaching Ondo State. Fuel prices are down and still dropping to an average of ₦850 per litre.

“Four hundred thousand students are accessing student loans. The Minimum Wage is now ₦70,000. Food prices are dropping slightly, while inflation reduced significantly from 34.80% to 24.48% in January 2025. Power generation is at an all-time high of 6,003MW, the highest in our history.”

He added, “Federal allocations to states have doubled and, in some cases, tripled. Deaths from terrorism and insecurity are at their lowest level since 2014, even as our GDP grew by 3.8% in Q4 2024. Nigeria also recorded a 209.6% increase in its trade surplus to ₦18.86 trillion in 2024 from ₦6.09 trillion in 2023.

The former presidential aide stated that more regions had been given regional development commissions to accelerate zone development.

“Nigerians are earning more than they did in 2023.
Students are learning more than they did in 2023.
Nigerians are safer than they were in 2023. Nigeria generates more power than it did in 2023,” Omokri said.

He said it was unthinkable that Nigerians would fail to appreciate these crucial strides and queue behind el-Rufai and former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, leading a coalition against Tinubu.

Omokri praised Buhari for placing fidelity to the country above ethnicity. “I did not expect this from him, and now that he has done this, he has given hope to those of us who believe in one Nigeria.”

He said the former president showed integrity by supporting his party and the president, who had done him a good turn. “Throughout the Buhari years, through thick and thin, Jagaban stuck with Buhari, even at the expense of losing some peripheral support among fringe elements in the Southwest, who felt that Buhari was running a very imbalanced administration that majorly favoured his Fulani ethnicity.

“Even when herdsmen killed Mrs Funke Olakunrin, daughter of the leader of the apex Lukumi-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasorantin, Asiwaju remained steadfast in his support for Buhari.”

Omokri said Tinubu had not criticised Buhari since he assumed office despite perceived revelations that would have caused another leader to question the preceding government.

“Therefore, it is appropriate that President Buhari cast his lot with President Tinubu rather than with a man who President Obasanjo described as having, ‘Inability to be loyal to anybody or any issue consistently for long, but only to Nasir el-Rufai," he said.

Omokri confessed that his initial impression was wrong. “I was wrong about General Buhari. He can be honourable and has demonstrated the courage of his conviction. If he had thrown his weight behind Nasir el-Rufai, it would have given that payer of killer herdsmen the ability to be a thorn in the flesh of the Tinubu administration.”

He said the former president’s reinstatement of support for the APC would deter other party stalwarts whose former Kaduna State governor’s name-dropping of the former president would have misled them into taking a wrong path.

https://dailytrust.com/omokri-commends-tinubus-strides-taunts-el-rufai/
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