*Tinubu inherited Nigeria from Buhari and Soludo was a Buhari’s economic adviser, he was replied
*Told, “Under Tinubu, you wont be governor as opposition candidate, but under Buhari you were”
By OUR REPORTER, Abuja
As the Governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Chukuma Soludo, joined the bandwagon of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s to bash immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari, he has been told why he will be “an ingrate” to be part of it.
Soludo, a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), had on Thursday said that the Tinubu-led government inherited a dead economy from its predecessors.
He added. “Because you can’t pour water on a rock and not expect the rock not to be wet, there are humungous challenges and I think it is important that Nigerians understand this and it is not a tea party.”
When he headed the central bank from 2004 to 2009, Soludo explained his role in imposing restrictions on monetary systems and charged the CBN with money printing without authorization.
“We must realise where we are coming from,” he said.
“We sat here in this country and saw the monetary authorities literally printing money, illegally I must say, because I superintended the development of drafting of the 2007 Bank Act.”
“And to prevent us from where we are today, that is why we had an explicit clause there that prevents Central Bank from lending recklessly to the Federal Government.
“That you can not grant to the Federal Government more than 5 percent of the previous year’s actual revenue.”
He maintained that the CBN failed to comply with the 2007 CBN Act, adding that the current monetary trajectory was avoidable in the first place.
“We all sat here and saw how the CBN brazenly, illegally violated that law year after year and kept on printing money,” the governor said.
“When you continue to credit the account of government, one trillion people shouted, two trillion,10 trillion, 15 trillion and 20 trillion and we kept going.”
Soludo, who made the remark on Thursday while commenting on the policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme, described the Nigeria under previous administrations as a dead horse that was still standing and people did not know it was dead.
However, a source in Abuja, apparently uncomfortable with the governor’s unclassified generalisation, told him why he should have made himself more explicit than the mere lump up that he did.
President Tinubu, who has been told severally to take responsibility for the current bad shape of Nigerian economy that he single-handedly inflicted on Nigerians due to his hasty fuel subsidy removal and foreign exchange policies, and members of his administration have resorted in recent times to hurling blames on former President Muhammadu Buhari as the cause.
Tinubu, while defending his first-hour-in-office announcements of May 29 this year, remains in public records as he boasted in the election campaign times that whether Nigerians would vote for him or not, he would win and would still remove subsidy.
His lieutenants had also shared these evidences in trying to prove to critics of the policy that fuel subsidy removal was their principal’s campaign promise.
They, however, have suddenly switched from that bold defence under six months in office to now say the nation’s economy was looted by Bubari and reason Tinubu has no money to finance Nigeria.
The Abuja source Friday acknowledged that Soludo as a former CBN governor has the right to know abd say what he knows about the apex bank. He was, however, reminded that Central Bank of Nigeria is an independent institution and that, under Buhari, it was given its full right to operate independently, despite being that Godwin Emefiele was inherited and retained as CBN governor by him.
“For anything, anyone who talks about a President manipulating institutions of state, cannot rightly lay that out the table with bubari because his policy of separation of powers and freedom for any independent institution to run in the interest of the massive majority of the Nigerian people was is recognised even by political and economic enemies of the former President,” he said.
He said President Tinubu is one Nigerian leader of Southern extractions who, unlike Chief Olusegun Obasanko, cannot corectly lay claims thslatbhebis only a harrow head in government while Northerners are truly in full cobtrol.
“He cannot say that. Tinubu owns his administration and anything that happens under his watch therein must be accepted by him as his own making. Is it Buhari, who refused to remove fuel subsidy in avoidance of untold hardship on Nigerians, that asked him to announce removal of subsidy? Even if Buhari had the plan to start June ending although Tinubu removed it in May, as a self minded preselidrnt who could decide for himself, would he be killed if he declined to continue with the policy?
“Truth is, fuel subsidy removal is Tinubu’s project and, since he would not have shared its successes with anyone if it had succeeded, he should not share his failure with Buhari that is innocent of his unholy against the defenceless people of Nigeria,” he said.
On Soludo’s gene4alisation he said Tinubu over from Buhari and not anyone else and that, while admitting that in the pre-2015 era things might be bad economically, it would be ungrateful for whoever loves to Tinubu not to enlighten him that the contributions and attestable rescue his immediate predecessor did to Nigeria in all ramifications must not be covered up from being talked about.
“You are a journalist and you are in the best position to know the truth abd tell the truth to power. When Buhari started in 2015, he announced the state of the economy even before inauguration because he had good rapour with the then President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan he took over from and he made it clear to Nigerians what he took over from his predecessor but also added what he would do to address the failures resulting from lack of investment for the future in the times of surplus.
“Buhari never declared fight or public disgrace against Jonathan. In fact, he drew Jonathan closer to himself including both families. Under him, Jonathan became ECOWAS envoy coming to take briefs from Buhari to Mali and returning to feed him back at every stage of assignment. Those were President and former president of two opppsition political parties that were miles apart in philosophy.
“With Buhari in Aso Rock, Nigeria regained its lost image and glory in the international community and globally. Presidents of United States of America that he witnessed as president of Nigeria talked to him with respect. Barrack Obama would leave his seat and walked down to Nigerian President Buhari when world leaders meeting found them together on the same roundtable.
“Electorally, the world trusted Buhari as great defender of democracy despite him saying clearly that, as a retired General, democracy was more uneasy to tackle most of the challenges for him than when he held the country under his military gulag.
“Buhari had successes commencing from 1mFurst 100 Days in Office in 2015 ab under eight months, he had effectively made his stamp on the sound of time regarding his commitment to reviving tge four ailing refineries that only him was able to build for Nigeria as Federal Minister of Petroleum but left to rotten by successive administration’s until his return 30 years after. He did more in terms of security and investment in the military soft and hardwares and infrastructure. His railways are still excellently operational. What more can you say?”
Buhari made Soludo
Hev aid, “This is sixth month, Tinubu has not been able to take off except that he keeps reversing even divisions he himself made. Electirally he has shown that he cannot do better than Buhari because, under Buhari, regardless of the natural shenanigans that come elections, Nigerians agreed and still agree that Buhari ensured credible elections especially the one that brought Chukuma Soludo into office as governor.”
According to him, “I read in the news Soludo joining the ongoing character demolition of the Tinubu administration against the personality of Buhari and his government when he said Tinubu inherited a dead economybfrom him.
“I must say say that Soludo must show gratitude to General Muhammadu Bhuhari because, neither APC nor Tinubu made him governor abd brought him to power. Buhari’s fairness of leadership did.
“Therefore, let them attack you for not supporting them in the unholy mission, but you would win at the end of the day,” he advised the Anambra governor.
He added that, “Whatvis certain isvthat, under a Tinubu handling of the kind ofbekection that brought Soludo to office during Buhari time, and his minister line Ngige was a partaker as APC candidate, Soludo would smell not power. He would lose. Evidence now in Kano, Zanfara, Kogi, Bayelsa, and so on and so forth.
“But Buhari’s selflessness of policy that encouraged and allowed for Nigerians to vote for candidates of their choices across the political parties was the game changer for tge former CBN governor. He won his election despite effort to deprive him of becoming governor. Were it Tinubu, Kano would have learned its lesson from Anambra before now.
“For this singular reason, Soludo must not be seen anywhere near joining Tinubu in bashing Buhari, calling him a fsilure or branding him a thief like the Tinubu’s National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, did,” he said.
