Senator Ali Ndume, the lawmaker representing Borno South, has said that President Bola Tinubu is being lied to and deceived by “kleptocrats” in his government.

In an interview with Channels TV on Sunday, Mr Ndume said, “I see people lying and telling the President what he wants to hear.”

“My position is that the people who are supposed to help him are the ones deceiving him or damaging his image,” Mr Ndume said.

He added, “They are unrealistic people. I said it before and I’m not changing my position until they change or the President does something. I still believe the government is more or less dominated by kleptocrats and even kakistocrats.”

Explaining his statement, Mr Ndume said, “Kakistocrats are people holding positions they are not supposed to be in, while kleptocrats are those in politics for personal gain, not public service.”

The senator said though Mr Tinubu has acknowledged that Nigerians are suffering due to prevailing economic hardships, people are not happy with his government.

“People are not happy, and the president himself is not pretending. He acknowledges there is hardship and has asked Nigerians to be patient,” Mr Ndume said.

He added, “The president cannot go out to the streets like myself and know how the people feel. Even outside the villa, they would drive him in tinted glass so he doesn’t even see what is going on.”