President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been urged to return to the country to provide leadership amidst the devastating flooding and rainfall in Borno and others states that has rendered many people homeless.
In Borno state alone, over 500, 000 people are believed to have been rendered homeless, while dead bodies are floating on flood waters on the state’s major streets, according to sources with on-the-spot assessment of the disaster.
Instructively, over one million persons are believed to have been affected by the flooding, according unofficial sources.
The flooding followed the collapse of the Alau Dam, which overflowed its banks from about 10 kilometres away into Maiduguri, the state capital, sources familiar with the story told the magazine.
Dozens have been killed in the state, including children and women, with many others still missing. The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, says the number persons killed in the flooding has yet to be ascertained, as health experts warn of serious pandemic calling on the federal and state government to declare an emergency.
The development is coming on the heels of the president’s trip to the United Kingdom, UK, after attending the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, FOCAC in Beijing, China.
Many Nigerians believe that President Tinubu had traveled too much out of the country in the last one year of his administration. He should stay back at home and run the country, many are saying.
Gani Adams, the Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, in an open letter to Tinubu said time was running out for him to transform the country.
He cited security and economic conditions of Nigerians which he said have become worse since Tinubu came to power over a year ago.
On security, he said, “As the Commander-in-Chief, the rising spate of insecurity across the country has put to question the kind of briefings you get on daily basis, especially, from the Inspector- General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun; the Chief of Army Staff, General Taoreed Lagbaja, and other Security Chiefs on their modus operandi to send these killers to where they belong.”
On the economic conditions of Nigerians, the Yoruba generalissimo noted that, “Under your watch as the President, the APC-led administration has consistently shown itself to be anti-people, unconcerned, and deaf to the agonies of millions of Nigerians.
“Today, more than 75 per cent of Nigerians have sunk below the poverty line. Businesses are collapsing like a badly-arranged pack of cards and the centre can no longer hold in many households.
“With over 32 per cent inflation rate and close to 40 per cent unemployment rate which is expected to rise further with the latest dictatorial increase in fuel price, it is obvious that your administration offers no hope to Nigerians,” Adams said.
But, addressing members of Nigerians in Diaspora Organization in China (NIDO China) and the Nigerian community at the China World Hotel, the President said his trip to the Asian nation was widely successful after discussing with President Xi Jinping of China on the need for the two countries to strengthen cooperation in the area of infrastructure, trade, finance, energy, green economy and mining.
President Tinubu had left the country on August 29 and has yet to returned to the country, despite the serious problems at home which his critics insist require his immediate attention.
He has since departed China for London where he’s expected to attend the 79th United Nations, UN, General Assembly In New York, in what his critics described as an extending overseas trips.
The country has been hit with various problems since he left, and not a few Nigerians have slammed his decision to stay away from the country for too long, insisting that the president is behaving like the thespian Caesar who fiddled while Rome burnt.
The country, they insist, requires its president to provide leadership when it matters, because of the serious crisis facing it at the moment.
Apart from the flooding that has now devastated most parts of the country’s north-east leading to serious humanitarian problems, analyst say, other critical issues that require the attention of the president include the recent hike in the price of petrol which is causing tension, the harassment of hapless citizens of the country by overbearing state security agencies, and the rising cases of kidnapping and terrorism in the country.
For instance, on Monday, the country was thrown into serious tension following the arrest of the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, by the Department of State Services, DSS at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on his way to the United Kingdom, UK to attend a function.
The Labour leader was detained for hours, but later released after global attacks suggesting that the administration is trying to silent dissents.
The organised Labour in the country, the NLC and Trade Union Congress, has however, warned that it cannot be cowed in its avowed determination to fight for Nigerians particularly, their economic interests.
The arrest of Ajaero, had fueled rumour that the administration was only trying to pre-empt Labour’s action over its recent demand that the petrol pump price be reversed.
Those who known insist that the state security services are only trying to harass the union leadership to prevent it from mobilising Nigerian against the federal government for hiking the price of petrol.
Reacting to Ajaero’s arrest, former Vice president Atiku Abubakar said Nigerians under Tinubu are worse of than under military dictatorship.
“The escalating assault on civil society and the media by the Bola Tinubu administration is profoundly disturbing,” he wrote in an X post on Tuesday.
“The recent arrest of Mr. Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, en route to an official event, epitomizes this regime’s relentless campaign to intimidate and subdue organized labour.
“Just days prior, security forces detained a journalist, only to later claim it was a grievous error. What if the outcome had been fatal?”
Global rights body, Amnesty International also criticised the administration over Ajaero’s arrest, saying Tinubu is trying to silent dissents.
Meanwhile, the controversy over Ajaero’s arrest was still raging when bandits struck in Kaduna state, North west Nigeria.
The invaders had attacked the Primary Healthcare Centre at Kuyallo, Birnin-Gwari Local Government Area of the State, kidnapping two nurses and an unspecified number of patients. Some patients were also believed to have been wounded during the deadly raid.
Recall that, few days after President Tinubu left the country for China, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPCL, hiked the price of petrol to N900 from barely N600 per litre.
The development had drawn serious attacks from not a few Nigerians who insist that the administration has made life more difficult for them with the increase.
The economic crisis is already too hard for many struggling families,critics of the administration say, adding that the petrol price hike is a proof that the administration does not mean well for Nigerians, and has no interest in ameliorating their conditions.
The hike in petrol price amount to another unwelcome policy from the Tinubu administration to make life unbearable for Nigerians, critics of the government insist.
The critics added that the president’s absence from the country has compounded the problem, suggesting that the commander-in-chief appears to be acting like he does not care about what is currently happening to the citizens.
“Tinubu is behaving like he does not care about his job. Apparently, he does not care about Nigerians. He asked for this job to fix the country, but he has been absent for most of the time since he became president last year. He needs to sit back at home and fix the country instead of junketing around the world, a critic who craved anonymity told the magazine on Wednesday.
The country appears rudderless at the moment, with the absence of the president so “Tinubu should tell Nigerians whether he’s still the president or not. We can’t have a situation where the man who is supposed to be presiding over the affairs of the country was away most of the time,” another analyst informed.
The source said further “in other climes their President would have rushed home to take charge of the situation. That is what governance is all about. But what we have in Nigeria is an absentee president who is always out of the country when he’s needed the most.”
Since he became president on May 29, 2023 Tinubu has traveled out of the country 15 times, according to checks by the magazine, with estimated N4 billion spent on the trips.
Checks revealed that Tinubu had so far visited Paris, France (twice); London, the United Kingdom; Bissau, Guinea-Bissau (twice); Nairobi, Kenya; Porto Norvo, Benin Republic; New Delhi, India; Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the United Arab Emirates; New York, the United States of America, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Berlin, German, spending 55 days as at June this year.
During his visit to Maiduguri on Tuesday, Vice President Kassim Shetima, who donated 50 trucks of rice to those displaced by the flood, said the federal government is working to ensure that they return back to their homes within two weeks.
Also, the Borno state governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum said on Wednesday that it has received N3 billion from the federal government, to support emergency operations.
The governor said all emergency operations have now been activated to respond to the plight of people affected by the flood.
