The Presidency has lashed out at a former Governor of Osun state, Rauf Aregbesola over his remark that the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a “scam”. The former governor made the assertion on Tuesday during the National Convention of the African Democratic Congress, ADC in Abuja, the nation’s capital which has now been rebuffed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
Reacting on his verified X handle, the presidential spokesperson said Aregbesola has no enviable records as governor and minister, describing the former governor’s remark as the ranting of the ant.
Aregbesola had accuse the APC adminsitration under President Tinubu of failing Nigerians in so many areas, including the economy, security and others saying the president has failed woefully in all the promises he made to Nigerians before coming to office, assuring that this is what his party, the ADC will correct if they win the election next year.
He knocked President Tinubu for the high exchange rate of the naira to other global currencies, the deteriorating power supply in the country, the rise in the pump price of petrol, which he said has led to the rising cost of transportation, he described as very “prohibitive” for many Nigerians.
In spite of this, he explained that the administration continues to claim that it’s on top of the situation, when, in truth, things are getting worse.
“The government’s claim that the recent reduction in the exchange rate shows its mastery of economics is false,” the former governor said calling on Tinubu to resign from office.
Reacting, Onanuga said the former governor did not have a honest refleaction of himself as a public officer before criticising the president, citing, for instance that the civil servants in Osun state have nothing good to say about Aregbesola when he was governor because he failed to pay salary and pension, leaving many workers hungry.
“It is to Aregbesola’s infamy that Osun became known as a state receiving negative federal allocation and paying just 20 to 30 per cent of normal salaries. It was worse for pensioners in Aregbesola’s Osun State. Many pensioners who relied on their meagre monthly payments died because they were not paid at all,” Onanuga said.
According to him, the rot left by Aregnesola was so much that his successor, Gboyega Oyetola had to had to dedicate enough time to clean up the mess, and that the incumbent, Governor Ademola Adeleke is also grappling with problems left by the former Minister.
As a minister, the presidency said, his tenure was marred by jailbreaks in correction centers across the country, saying the former governor lacks moral rights to criticise President Tinubu.
“During his four years, obtaining a Nigerian passport became a nightmarish process, and there were 15 major attacks on correctional facilities in Jos, Abolongo, Imo, Kabba, and Okitipupa, resulting in over 4,000 inmates escaping to join criminal elements.
“For someone who failed so woefully to secure our correctional centres and uphold his duties between 2019 and 2023, it is ironic that Aregbesola now seeks to lecture others on insecurity. Maybe he thinks the entire Nigerian population suffers from amnesia,” Onanuga said.
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