The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) has slammed former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, over what it described as unsavoury media assault on the Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu. In a message released in Owerri, the Imo State capital, the National Chairman of the council, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, regretted that such comment shouldn’t have been made by a political leader like Tinubu, ‘especially with the issue of fuel scarcity raised seriously affecting many lives of youth in start-up businesses, unless it was aimed at fulfilling his political agrandisement coated in patriotism.
The council argued that Tinubu as one who had unrestricted access to Aso Rock Villa could have taken his complaints straight to the relevant authorities instead of choosing to bring the government to public ridicule. The statement reads in part: “While claiming to stand for Nigerians, Tinubu chose to make headlines in almost all national dailies through his personally signed statement.
Tinubu’s voice is not louder than the rest of all Nigerians who are in pains daily and demanding for an immediate end to the fuel crisis but it is clear that the essence of the statement was not to help in any way to solve the problem but to cast Mr. Ibe Kachikwu in bad light and pressure Mr. President to sack him.”
Explaining further, Ugochinyere, stressed that the attack on Kachikwu was a smokescreen by Tinubu to indirectly rate President Muhammadu Buhari low before ordinary Nigerians because the ongoing reforms embarked upon by the minister apparently were not aligning with Tinubu’s interests.
