Human Rights lawyer, Ebun Olu- Adegboruwa (SAN); a Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Segun Sowunmi; and the National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bashiru Ajibola, traded tackles in Ibadan yesterday over benefits and otherwise of the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
While Adegboruwa and Sowunmi criticised the policies of the President, Bashiru described their criticism as baseless and uncalled for. For him, Tinubu has taken Nigeria out of the myriad of challenges it was facing before his administration’s inception. Speaking in Ibadan on the topic:
‘The Tinubu’s Administration’s Economic Agenda and Policy, How Far? So Far’, an event which was part of activities marking the 70th Anniversary and Law Week of the Ibadan Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Adegboruwa and Sowunmi said the consequences of the debilitating economic policies of Tinubu is mass poverty, mass suffering, inflation, japa syndrome and general sense of frustration in place of the ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda of the government. Adegboruea said:
“If you go through APC’s Constitution and manifesto, we have devolution of power. Look at how we have not been able to tackle restructuring, true federalism.
Orosanye gave a report to say Nigeria is over-bloated. He made a suggestion that we either merge some of these agencies or scrap some of them. “I’m suggesting that the president should take hold of the constitution and manifesto of his party and implement devolution of power and full restructuring, and secondly, focus on infrastructure.”
In his contribution, Sowunmi chided Tinubu for removing petroleum subsidy the first day of his swearing in when there was no prior meeting with the stakeholders including the organised labour, civil society organisations, the NBA etc, saying: “There was no clarity and direction of what the government was to do. They don’t know what they are doing.
They just woke up and devalued us into poverty. “Both the disbursing and receiving ends of their ‘mystery index’ are being handled by men from the South West. The CBN, the Ministry of Finance, the Chief of Army Staff, the IGP etc, all have Southerners at the helm. How unreasonable and how tribal is that?
How long are we going to wait for the economy to improve when the naira continues to be devalued and the dollar is rising every day? Instead of keeping money in the banks, our people are keeping them in their private vaults, yet you want the monetary policy to improve. How will it be?”
In his response, Ajibola, also a lawyer, said Tinubu’s administration was not a socialist government as claimed by the duo, saying the critics should stop using parameters of socialism to assess Tinubu’s government. He said: “You’re using a wrong marking scheme. It’s a very wrong assumption that Nigeria is a socialist society.
Also chapter 2 of the constitution is talking about creating a social and equity system on a capitalist economy. Nigerians are living on a self income level. As of today, the National minimum wage has been adopted and implemented.
“We are saying there’s a serious issue of inflation in the country, and that is why the focus of the 2025 budget which is being presented today by the president is targeted at reducing inflation. We’re embarking on massive infrastructure to achieve economic credit for our people.”
The session was chaired by a former Attorney General and Justice Minister, Chief Akinlolu Olujinmi (SAN), who was represented by Justice Bayo Taiwo. Mudibau Adetunmbi moderated while the first female Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Folake Solanke, commended the Ibadan NBA Executive led by Ibrahim Lawal for doing the Premier Bar proud.
