Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, a former spokesperson for the Northern Elders Forum, has said President Bola Tinubu failed to meet expectations that it would improve the quality of governance and standards of life of Nigerians. He alleged that Mr Tinubu’s two years in office have been characterised by unbridled corruption, waste and abuse.

In an interview with Channels TV on Tuesday, Mr Baba-Ahmed, said, “Clearly, the Tinubu administration has failed expectations that it was going to radically improve the quality of governance. So much waste, so much abuse of resources and corruption going on.” 

He noted that since former President Goodluck Jonathan “took over and ran the country aground we fought against Jonathan because we felt Nigeria deserved better leadership than Jonathan”. 

Mr Baba-Ahmed added, “We didn’t realise that we were going to put in place someone who was not even to govern at all. Jonathan governed badly. President Buhari didn’t govern at all.”

“Now, you have a president who started on a faulty foot and says: ‘I am going to become president because it is my turn’. Even if you forgive him for making that comment, two years into the leadership of President Tinubu’s government, we judge them by their record.”

Mr Baba-Ahmed argued that if the quality of the lives of Nigerians is used to measure Mr Tinubu’s performance, the administration had failed.

“They will tell you they are doing great with all the World Bank statistics, all the international ratings and everything, but that’s not the only measures you use to measure a government. 

“You measure by the way citizens live, and if that is the yardstick by which we are going to measure this administration, then clearly, the Tinubu administration has failed expectations that it was going to radically improve the quality of governance,” Mr Baba-Ahmed explained.

Bayo Onanuga, spokesperson for Mr Tinubu, did not immediately respond to Peoples Gazette’s request for comments.