Presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in the 2023 general election, Adewole Adebayo, has told President Bola Tinubu that it is high time he stopped talking about what he met on ground.
Adebayo reminded the President that what he met on ground was what he used to campaign and eventually won election in 2023.
He blamed Tinubu for not stabilizing the economy first when he came in before executing some of the policies which have seen inflation skyrocket.
Adebayo, who spoke on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, said that he will start taking the Tinubu administration serious when it makes the exchange rate stable for at least 120 days without fluctuating.
“When you’re elected into an office, you meet what you meet there. If you study very well before you come, you can almost predict what you’ll meet there.
“Like now, if it pleases God that we want to replace Tinubu administration in 2027, we already know what we’re likely to meet there. So, the level of surprise should not be that radical,” he said.
“…You have to start to be accountable for the actions you took from when you took over…President Tinubu, from my assessment of him, is very sincere. However, sincerely, he is wrong in the approach he has used so far.
“…He wanted to do fiscal management. He wanted to do fiscal reform, which is to say ‘I don’t like the idea that the government is spending so much money on certain things like petroleum subsidy…’ he removed the subsidy in a manner that factor costs starting rising, inflation starting rising, creating problem for the Central Bank for now to manage inflation and foreign exchange.
“Now, at the same time, he’s still running deficit anyway. The cost rippled in the larger economy but he still hasn’t solved the major problem. All the money saved in the name of subsidy disappeared. He still had to borrow more. So, all the money he diverted from subsidy has not raised employment…
“So, what I’ll like us to understand is that they should stop talking about what they met on ground. Apart from the fact that their party has been in power for nine years, I don’t want to go into politics, but because what they met on ground was what they used to campaign,” he stated.
Hardship: Stop talking about what you met on ground – Adebayo to Tinubu