Babangida Aliyu: Let’s Leave Tinubu Till 2031

•Says government working, communication key problem 

•Argues PDP lacks internal discipline, unable to sanction rebels

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

A former Governor of Niger State, Aliyu Babangida, yesterday urged Nigerians to give President Bola Tinubu a chance, stressing that if Nigerians tolerated ex-President Muhammadu Buhari for eight years, there should be no reason to reject the current Nigerian leader in 2027.

Aliyu also said that the present administration is performing and delivering on good governance, but lacks an effective communication strategy to amplify its achievements to Nigerians.

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation (SABMF), who spoke during an interview on Arise television, urged Nigerians to be patient with the current administration.

He said: “If we could tolerate the late Muhammadu Buhari for eight years, oh my God, let’s try it, maybe by 2031 we can jettison the arrangement if we find it convenient.”

The former governor noted that although it’s not wrong for northern  leaders to make demands of Tinubu’s administration, given that the region accounted for the largest share of the votes that brought him to power, there is currently no indication that Tinubu is doing badly.

“Let the people understand what is happening on the ground. If by what we say that 63 or 64 per cent of the vote came from the north, it is only logical that the north will be expecting so much from the government. But what we have seen so far is that the government is doing well, but they do not know how to communicate very well,” he added.

On the African Democratic Congress (ADC) bid to remove the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Tinubu in 2027, Aliyu challenged opposition groups to present viable alternatives to Nigerians.

He maintained: “My argument has always been what is the alternative? What is it if you want to remove this or that government or that governor or that president? What is the alternative that you’re offering to the people?”

He highlighted Nigeria’s informal political rotation system, stressing the sensitiveness surrounding the issue of power sharing. Aliyu noted: “ We seem to have accepted our rotation,” he insisted.

Aliyu emphasised that some Nigerians are dissatisfied with the Tinubu administration not because it has failed to deliver, but because it’s failing to tell its story effectively.

“What I understood from all the discussions that we’ve had is that the government officials are either shy or are not communicating well. You do not depend only on the Ministry of Information to be able to communicate with the citizens.

“Every minister, every head of parastatals should be able to tell the people what he’s been doing and we saw so much evidence that many parastatals have been doing very well but people are not aware.

“And with the accumulating problems, particularly insecurity, kidnapping and poverty, that I think also dented the government’s approach to matters. In other words,  the government needs to be very straightforward and communicate properly with the people, not paying too much attention to political trends,” he said.

Speaking on the issue of political discipline, Aliyu criticised the PDP for failing to rein in the rebels within the party. “There are many people in the PDP who should have been suspended or dismissed. But we are so incapable because they have been able to use money to penetrate all the organs of the party,” he stated.