President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
By Banji Ayoola
A former Ondo State governorship candidate of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Dr Abass Mimiko, has justified why Nigerians should reelect President Bola Tinubu next year.
According to him, despite the prevailing economic hardship, the Tinubu administration has been a blessing to the country.
He hinged his reasons on the bold steps taken by the administration which he said are already changing the narratives and stimulating the nation’s economic development.
Mimiko, a brother to former Governor Olusegun Mimiko, in an interview with reporters, said Tinubu should be assessed on the facts that he inherited a severely distressed economy, with heavy debt obligations, fuel subsidy expenditure, foreign exchange distortions and widespread insecurity among others from the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The bold initiatives taken by Tinubu, he said, include the creation of state police to solve the insecurity crisis rocking the country; financial autonomy for the local governments which now receive their monthly allocations from the federal purse to stimulate grassroots development; the ongoing move to rerestructure the country into a true and balanced federation; and creation of regional development commissions, among others.
He added that Tinubu’s assessment should be based against what he inherited in 2023, instead of only the present economic hardship which he described as temporary but necessary for the coming end result.
.Mimiko said that though painful, the fuel subsidy removal had freed substantial resources for government, which has saved over N15 trillion since the policy’s take-off.
Also, he credited the increased revenue accruing to states which are now able to pay workers salaries, implement development programmes and meet their other financial obligations unlike the pre-2023 situation.
Though he noted that the nation is still far from the desired prosperity level, he listed areas where he said Tinubu has performed better than his predecesdors as including the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), increased crude oil production and efforts to curb oil theft.
He said his support for the president despite being in an opposition party, was hinged on the administration’s visible performance.
In his words, “President Bola Tinubu doesn’t belong to APC alone. He is the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He belongs to all of us”
All these points among others, he said, explains why he floats the ‘One Love Coalition’ platform to mobilise people across parties and even non politicians to campaign vigorously for Tinubu’s reelection to continue, actualise and consolidate on his programmes which he said are necessary for Nigeria’s meaningful development into a productive economy.
Aimed to mobilise nationwide support for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election, the coalition which would take off from Ondo State and spread to other parts of the South-West, would focus on grassroots mobilisation and public enlightenment.
It will draw members from across political parties, ethnic groups, religious affiliations, and social classes who believe the Tinubu administration is steering the country in the right direction.
His words, “We are putting up a coalition. We call it the One Love Coalition of Like Minds. Your own pocket donation. Like they used to do in America. Put your one dollar on the ground, and put your two dollars. And we then lead a campaign, a media campaign, street to street, door to door.
“We call our own One Love Coalition. One love keeps us together. The whole idea is we don’t want Nigeria that will splinter. We want a Nigeria where there will be freedom enough for the regions.”
He said tthe coalition would embark on an extensive grassroots campaign to educate Nigerians on what he described as the achievements of the Tinubu administration, particularly in education, infrastructure, and other sectors, while also engaging students, market women, and people from all walks of life.
Mimiko said states must also take responsibility for their development, saying the Federal Government could not determine how governors spend funds allocated to their states.
He warned that beneficiaries of federal programs such as the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) should not assume that such programs would automatically continue under future administrations, stressing that his support for Tinubu was not motivated by the prospect of political appointment or access to campaign funds.
“If I wanted a political appointment, I’d run to APC. If I want to share in the largesse of what is coming down for the campaign, I will run to APC. We’re not doing this for pecuniary gains. If you know me very well, I’m a very private person by disposition. But to whom much is given, much is expected,” he said.
Also, he challenged Nigerians to demand greater transparency from state governors over the trillions of naira allocated to states, saying citizens should insist on meaningful improvements in their lives rather than directing every complaint about poor living conditions at the federal government.
His words, “I don’t think it is the responsibility of the president to come to a state and say, ‘You have N50 billion; do agriculture.’” Mend your roads. Do primary healthcare. Make education more affordable for your people. I am of the opinion that people must call out their governors regarding, ‘What are you doing with this huge allocation?’”
He lamented that vote-selling had weakened the ability of citizens to hold political office holders accountable, recalling instances of voters exchanging their votes for small sums of money, and urged Nigerians to reject the mentality of trading their votes for immediate financial gratification.
On electoral reform, he called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to redesign the arrangement of polling booths to make voting more private and frustrate attempts by vote buyers to determine how voters cast their ballots, citing the visibility around voting booths as a loophole that enables monitoring of voters.
