All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has made it clear that Nigeria suffered institutional paralysis under the immediate past President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, which President Muhammadu Buhari has been trying to correct.
“Institutional paralysis had occurred in the country. It is very important for a steady man like the President to really help the nation recover from the paralysis and that is what he is doing.
“He has helped to stimulate the economy in the various states and that is where the people are. So what is dictatorship?”
Tinubu spoke to newsmen today shortly after holding a two-hour closed-door meeting with President Buhari at the Aso Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Tinubu who denied that he was in the Villa with his own list of persons he wanted as ministers, defended the President against allegations of dictatorship leveled by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying: “I disagree with that. He was elected on a platform of democracy. He has adhered to rule of law so far. What is dictatorship about what he has done?
“If they don’t have anything to say, they should rather be quiet. They created what is wrong here today and we can’t sweep that under the carpet. There must be rule of law.”
Tinubu, who was accompanied by former national chairman of the APC, Bisi Akande, said that he preferred that President Buhar delays in naming ministers and get it right than laying a bad foundation that would not last in the nation’s interest.
“There is pitfall in rushing, quick fix, depending upon the depth of the rot. And that rush can cascade into mistakes of unimaginable magnitude. There is equally glory and recovery in slowness, when you have a slow fix of a bad foundation.
“So, to me, I would rather take the one that will last the country and endeavour for a longer period of time than the rush-hour shopping.”
He described the belief in many quarters that there has been power tussle between him and Akande on one hand and him and Atiku Abubakar as a ure rumour, adding: “don’t listen to rumours, there is no struggle. Our party is not even looking at the direction of power struggle or anything of such.
“The structure is to encourage and support the President, to help him institutionalize his goal, principle and vision for a new Nigeria.”
Also speaking, Akande said he had come to the Villa to encourage Buhari to clear the rot left behind by the PDP, adding: “since Obasanjo’s first term, and I understand that President Buhari inherited piles of rot in the Villa, and I said, let me see him, talk to him and report to my party with a view to knowing how to encourage him to change the rot to good.” [myad]
