Kolawole Akinlayo (APC-Ekiti), a legislator in the House of Representatives, has appealed to Nigerians to give President Bola Tinubu more time to fix the country, pointing out that he inherited bad governance.

Mr Tinubu’s party man and ally, Muhammadu Buhari, ruled the country for eight years.

The lawmaker who made the appeal while addressing journalists on Monday in Abuja said bad governance did not start with Tinubu’s administration.

According to him, bad governance did not start with this administration; it has been with us but the people reserve the right to protest.

“If you inherit a bad structure, it will take time to fix it. We need to be patient with the government in power,” he said.

Mr Akinlayo urged the protesting youths on the street to shelve their protest, adding that the president needed to consider the olive branch.

“I want the youth to consider the olive branch offered by the president for the youth to embrace dialogue with the government which is better than protest.

“The president has told us of the projects he has for the country, but bad governance led to the protest which is not the fault of the president,” he said.

However, the legislator said he did not receive the rice the president reported distributed to states.

“Nobody distribute rice to me, but the governors got rice, so we should be asking them. The lawmakers were only given a truck of fertilizer, which is 600,” said Mr Akinlayo. “I have gotten my own fertilizer and distributed it to my constituency, but I am not aware of any rice given to any member.”

He said there was a a need to make a realistic demand from the government, adding that asking that the government reverse pump price to N157 per litter was unrealistic.

(NAN)