Former presidential candidate and ex-Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, has criticised President Bola Tinubu over his planned visit to Saint Lucia, describing it as ill-timed and insensitive to the plight of suffering Nigerians.
In a strongly worded statement on Saturday, Obi expressed shock and dismay at what he described as poor governance delivery and misplaced priorities by the Tinubu administration.
“Dear Nigerians, I am struggling with my senses to understand what is happening to governance in this country. What I have seen and witnessed in the last two years has left me in shock about poor governance delivery and apparent channelling of energy into politics and satisfaction of the elites, while the masses in our midst are languishing in want,” Obi said.
He lamented the worsening insecurity and hunger ravaging the country. “In the past two years, Nigeria has lost more people to all sorts of criminality than a country that is officially at war. Without any twilight, Nigeria ranks among the most insecure places in the world. Nigerians are hungrier, and most people do not know where their next meal will come from.”
Reacting to the Presidency’s announcement that Tinubu was departing for Saint Lucia for official engagements and private leisure, Obi said: “With such a gory picture of one’s country, you can imagine my bewilderment when I saw a news release from the Presidency announcing that President Bola Tinubu is departing Nigeria today for a visit to Saint Lucia in the Caribbean.”
Citing reports that Tinubu’s trip would include two days of official engagements and the remainder as personal vacation, Obi said he initially doubted the news. “I told the person who drew my attention to the Caribbean story that it cannot be true and that the President is just coming back from a holiday in Lagos. I didn’t want to believe that anybody in the position of authority, more so the President… would contemplate a leisure trip at this time.”
Obi criticised Tinubu for not visiting disaster and crisis zones like Minna and Makurdi, where lives have been lost. “This is a President going for leisure when he couldn’t visit Minna, Niger State, where over two hundred lives were lost and over 700 persons still missing in a flood natural disaster. I wonder which type of incident will happen before a President is attracted to show physical sympathy to the distressed citizens.”
He noted the President’s visit to Makurdi appeared more political than compassionate. “The President yielded to public pressure and visited Makurdi… for what turned out to be a political jamboree than condolence as public holiday was declared and children made to line up to receive the President who couldn’t even reach the village, the scene of the brutal attack.”
Drawing a comparison between Saint Lucia and Nigerian cities, Obi said: “Makurdi is over 59% bigger than St Lucia… Minna is ten times bigger than St Lucia. St Lucia, with a population of 180,000, is less than half of Makurdi’s 489,839 and Minna’s 532,000 is almost three times the population of St Lucia.”
Obi concluded with a passionate plea: “I don’t think the situation in this country today calls for leisure for anybody in a position of authority… This regime has repeatedly shown its insensitivity and lack of passion for the populace… The time has come to put a stop to this drift before it consumes all and focus on pulling people out of poverty. A new Nigeria is POssible.”
