Northern group, Arewa Think Tank (ATT) has taken a swipe on the Spokesman to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr Reuben Abati over recent comment on the state of the nation.
Dr. Abati was reported to have said in one of his interviews that former President Muhammadu Buhari would be laughing at Nigeria from his house in Daura, Katsina State over state of the nation, especially regarding the ongoing socioeconomic hardship in the country.
But Arewa Think Tank in a statement by its Convener, Muhammad Alhaji Yakubu sharply disagreed with Abati, saying he is only struggling to justify falsehood with the reality on ground.
According to Yakubu, Arewa Think Tank wouldn’t have taken Abati seriously, but to set the record straight from confusing gullible Nigerians, we decided to react to his comment.
He queried, how can Buhari be laughing at Nigeria when he used eight years to put the country into hunger and hardship which President Bola Ahmed Tinubu merely inherited it and doing his best to salvage it.
“How can Buhari be laughing when the central bank governor under his administration is still constantly in and out of detention, and how can he laugh when his nephew is under serious investigation for allegedly embezzling billions of naira.
“How can Reuben Abati said Buhari is happy when the economy he handed over to his successor has been brought to its knees because of poor foundation
“Arewa Think Tank is asking again, how can Buhari feel at peace when the aviation minister under his administration is in court for alleged fraud, how can he laugh when billions of naira, meant to care for the most vulnerable people, were embezzled by his humanitarian minister. How could he be amused when he hears that his former CBN governor spent almost N95 billion to print N145 million.
“How could there be any reason for the former President to laugh when he knew he used almost 90 percent of his daily crude oil production to borrow money in advance from foreign governments, how can Buhari find comfort knowing fully well that some rogue bankers and economists, employed during his administration, used his foreign reserves as collateral to borrow money.
“We are very sure that the Buhari we know would be deeply disturbed and saddened whenever he hears of all the atrocities committed during his tenure as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
“Since we don’t want to be misled by Reuben Abati’s comment, we pray that history should judge Buhari kindly in accordance with his deeds while in office, but the best advice we could give President Bola Tinubu for now is for him to detach himself or his government from the immediate past government of President Buhari”.
The group said, the advice has become necessary in order for Tinubu to avoid the failures of the previous government rubbing off on his own administration that is struggling to get out of the socio-economic woods he inherited.
“We are also advising President Tinubu that if something is not done urgently, Nigerians may revolt against his government due to a looming food crisis in coming years. So he should walk his talks without further delay”.
Yakubu also called on President Tinubu that inasmuch as he is being praised for the approved local government autonomy and subsidy removal, one of the legacies that he will leave behind and people will remember him for a long time is to go frontal and defeat the bandits, stressing that “They are not spirits, they can be defeated” the statement said.
