Edge's News: I Lost Confidence In The Way Nigeria Was Being Run....Gov. Aminu Tambuwal

The Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal has expressed disappointment in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari

Though Tambuwal was instrumental in the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as the President of Nigeria in 2015, the Governor has come out to say that he lost confidence in the way the Buhari government was running the country’s affairs as far back as the year 2017.

He made his position known while speaking on why he has joined and dumped several parties in the course of his political sojourn.

The Governor said most of his defections were forced and circumstantial as he had to stand for what he believes is right.

“Well, my changing political parties has been circumstantial, right from my first election, which I contested on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP),” he said in an interview with Daily Trust.

Tambuwal said Buhari’s government came with a lot of expectations but a faulty start and refusal of the President to heed advice set a bad trend of worse things to happen in his administration.

He added that some of them thought the coming of Professor Ibrahim Gambari as the Chief of Staff will make things better, but that has not been the case.

The Governor highlighted the squabble among politicians who formed the All Progressives Congress (APC), the failure of the President to quickly appoint his cabinet and eventually choosing the wrong persons, as well as not having a proper consultation with other stakeholders as some of the issues that affected the takeoff of his administration.

He pointed out that with a faulty takeoff that has not been rectified, it’s been difficult to record much progress.

In his words, 

We participated in that process and had a very clear understanding of the need for a change, and God blessed our efforts and President Buhari became the president of Nigeria.

“Unfortunately, in the process, because of the way and nature the government was formed, some of these problems began to manifest, right from the nomination and proclamation of the National Assembly and the emergence of its leadership, and all of that. Suddenly, the differences of the political parties that formed the coalition to form the government became manifest and there were squabbles.

“On the side of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), President Buhari was at the helm of affairs. While Yemi Osibanjo was the vice president, the New PDP was able to get the president of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives. You could see that there was clearly a major disagreement between the legislature, mainly the Senate, and the executive arm of government. That somehow impacted on the takeoff of the administration.

“The delay by Mr President in appointing his ministers also impacted negatively. He came with a very heavy goodwill and all of that, the support was there, but that delay really didn’t give him a good start.

“The expectation was that the president would come up with a very fantastic team of ministers, but by the time the list finally came out, people wondered why there was delay.

“Again, in the process of forming the cabinet, there was not much consultation with other stakeholders to form the government. So with all of these, takeoff really affected the administration.”

Tambuwal accused Buhari of failing to heed the initial advice by some state governors for him to appoint economic and political advisers in 2015/2016 only for him to later appoint an economic adviser in 2021.

“I remember very well that a number of governors met Mr President and advised him, I think in 2015/2016, to appoint economic and political advisers, but he clearly told us that he did not need any of them. But towards the end of 2021 the president decided to appoint an economic adviser.

“You can see that, honestly, from takeoff there were some mistakes. I don’t like mentioning names, but some of the principal officers of his administration had no public service experience. However, some of them were good in the private sector. They did not also have democratic governance experience. And the dynamics of democratic governance are fundamentally different, even from serving under a military dispensation, not to talk of the situation where most of them at that closer level are controlling power. They had no public service record at all; so it was a fundamental mistake.”

He added that “I went against the tide in the North West in 2018/2019 with Buhari as a sitting president. I took the risk against the tide and decided to pitch tent with the PDP because I lost confidence in the way Nigeria was being run by President Buhari as far back as 2017/2018. I had made my position known and campaigned on the basis of that here in Sokoto and nationally.”