Former Special Adviser on Political Matters in the Office of Vice President Kashim Shettima, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, says Nigeria is now worse than when ex-President Muhammadu Buhari left office.
According to him, the economy is worse under the current administration of President Bola Tinubu than during Buhari’s government.
Featuring on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Baba-Ahmed spoke on why he stepped down from the Tinubu administration.
DAILY POST reports that Baba-Ahmed served for 17 months before resigning.
As at the time Tibubu assumed office on May 29, 2023, Nigeria’s inflation rate was 22.41%, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS.
However, inflation rose to an alarming 34.6% by November 2024, an increase many economists attribute to the president’s controversial policies, including the removal of petrol subsidy and the unification of the country’s foreign exchange rates.
“It is worse than Buhari left it. This is the thing with the statistics that the administration keeps reeling out. And you really wonder where they get the statistics from. You go to villages, go to Kastina, go to Zamfara, go to Niger State, go to Plateau, go to Benue, virtually, in fact literally, go to every part of Nigeria.
“More blood is shed now than it was maybe two years ago. And yet you see this kind of statistics that say there are fewer killings, there is less violence.
“You have to ask, do our leaders actually know how our people live? Who is telling them all this? How do these statistics get acquired? Because if you want to really measure how people live, you do not do that by just some statistics that someone gives you.
“Do the President’s people really tell him the state of the country? Does he know? Does he know the level of poverty? Does he know how many families, entire families, live in that village?”
Baba-Ahmed said he had hoped Tinubu’s administration would bring economic development, given his role as former Lagos State governor who had also tasted poverty.
“I saw a President who was stubborn, almost visionary, but he ran Lagos for eight years. Whether he ran it well or not, I do not know. But he ran Lagos well. He resisted former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s overbearing and strong determination to get rid of him.
“Beyond that, I saw him as a calculating politician. He gave his platform to Atiku. He gave his platform to Nuhu Ribadu. He participated actively. Then he agreed with Buhari, created a platform which allowed Buhari to become President. Because for 2003, 2007, 2011, Buhari was running, he did not get anywhere,” Baba-Ahmed said.
According to him, Tinubu played a major role in the election of former president Buhari.
Baba-Ahmed added that although he was a political adviser in the current administration, he was not pleased with the role and had to resign.
