President Bola Tinubu has received knocks by the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) concerning the broadcast made to Nigerians on the occasion of the country’s 63rd Anniversary celebrations, describing the speech as ordinary, ineffectual and far below what was “required in these desperate moments in our dear country.”
Spokesperson of the Coalition, Comrade Mark Adebayo, gave this reaction when contacted, saying that the president’s speech wasn’t what he could consider inspiring.
According to a CUPP chieftain, Nigeria is currently besieged by multiple socioeconomic quagmires that require something beyond the ordinary to be communicated by the leadership, maintaining that there was nothing new in the broadcast of Mr President, but “the same things we’ve been hearing from past leaders since Independence.”
“The speech was ordinary, ineffectual and far below what’s required in these desperate moments in our dear country.
“The President’s 63rd Independence speech wasn’t what I could consider inspiring.
“Nigeria is currently besieged by multiple socioeconomic quagmires that require something beyond the ordinary to be communicated by the leadership. I didn’t get a sense of that in the President’s speech.
“There is nothing new said here. Just the same things we’ve been hearing from past leaders since Independence viz; ‘I feel your pains, I’m doing my best to make things work better for you, the current pains are temporary, our policies are for the betterment of the country to guarantee a better future for all.’
“I’ve heard all those for so many years that they’ve totally lost their value. Promises without results,” Comrade Adebayo said.
Speaking further, the CUPP spokesperson sadly noted that President Tinubu had too many unresolved complications, saying that the current atmosphere in the country was extremely inclement and made worse by the controversies surrounding his identity and academic qualifications which he failed to address in his speech.
“I admire the president as an individual, but he has too many unresolved complications.
“In fact, the atmosphere in the country today is extremely inclement and made worse by the controversies surrounding the President’s identity and academic qualifications.
“There is tension all over the country because the polity is so overheated and compounded by the crisis of identity surrounding the President. I didn’t hear anything in the President’s speech that has the potential to ease that tension,” he said.
On the 25,000 Naira increment in salaries for low-income workers for a period of six months, the rights activist described the gesture as mere “scratching the surface of the level of suffering in the country” as commendable as that sounds, expressing doubt if anything could be done “to mitigate the negative effects of the subsidy removal in the short or even on the long term.”
“The announcement of a 25,000 Naira increment in salaries, as commendable as that sounds, is merely scratching the surface of the level of suffering in the country. I doubt if anything can be done to mitigate the negative effects of the subsidy removal in the short or even on the long term,” Adebayo said.
Adebayo, while insisting that Tinubu’s speech was far below what was expected in these desperate moments the nation found itself, recalled that the president performed far better at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) “than today’s performance,” declaring that it was not yet Uhuru for Nigeria as, according to him, “this is the kind of occasion that the country missed the former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
“He did far better at UNGA than today’s performance. This is the kind of occasion that we miss the former VP Osinbajo.
“It’s not yet Uhuru for Nigeria,” he declared.
